Built for every stage
of the SME journey.
SME360 meets businesses where they are, and manages their progression toward institutional readiness, regardless of the starting point. Four segments. One framework. One managed partnership model.
Start structured. The decisions you make in the first 12 months determine whether you spend the next three years correcting them.
Most early-stage Nigerian businesses are launched on energy and instinct, which is exactly as it should be. But structural decisions made informally in year one compound quickly. The wrong entity type creates investor barriers that require expensive restructuring later. No SCUML registration blocks bank account opening. No financial system from the start means three years of unreconciled records to clean up before the first serious funding conversation. No compliance management means accumulated penalties that surface at the worst possible moment. SME360 builds the foundation correctly from the beginning, so none of these corrections are ever necessary.
What SME360 Does at This StageA business built correctly from the start, with the legal structure, financial systems, compliance status, and governance that most established businesses wish they had installed in year one. No expensive corrections. No compliance backlogs. A clean, institutional-grade foundation from which to grow.
Infrastructure Ladder Position: Rungs 1–2. The work is foundational, structure and compliance, with basic fiscal systems introduced from the start.
Growing is not the problem. Growing without infrastructure is.
You have built something real. Revenue is growing. You are hiring. But the informal systems that worked when it was just you cannot carry a team. Management accounts are months behind. Financial decisions are made on aggregate numbers that answer none of the questions that matter, which product line is actually profitable, which customer relationship is a concentration risk, which location is subsidising the others. You are making significant decisions without the intelligence to make them well. And the bank, the DFI programme, and the institutional partner you want to engage are all waiting for documentation you cannot yet produce.
What SME360 Does at This StageA business running on operational intelligence rather than aggregate guesswork. Management can see profitability by segment, manage concentration risks before they crystallise, and produce the verified financial record that every institutional engagement requires. Compliance is current. Infrastructure has caught up with ambition.
Infrastructure Ladder Position: Rungs 2–4. The compliance foundation needs strengthening; the real work is building governance, fiscal operations, and digital infrastructure simultaneously.
You have built the business. Now build the infrastructure that its next stage demands.
The business works. Revenue is consistent. You have a team and a track record. But the infrastructure has not kept pace with the operation. Governance was never formalised, internal controls exist informally, if at all. The financial system has years of accumulated data that was never properly structured. Every institutional conversation, bank credit facility, DFI programme, development partner, equity investor, stalls at due diligence. Not because the business is not strong enough. Because the documentation, the financial records, and the governance framework do not yet reflect how strong the business actually is. That gap is closeable. SME360 closes it.
What SME360 Does at This StageA business whose infrastructure finally reflects its operational reality. Clean, auditable financial records. A complete governance framework. Full compliance. The documentation and financial intelligence that make every institutional engagement viable, and that give management, for the first time, a clear and verifiable picture of what the business is actually worth.
Infrastructure Ladder Position: Rungs 3–5. Foundations broadly in place; the work is upgrading fiscal operations, governance formalisation, and building toward institutional readiness.
Your programme is ready. Your beneficiaries are not.
You have designed a well-structured programme. The funding is committed. The eligibility criteria are clear. But when the businesses arrive, too many cannot absorb what you are offering, because the institutional infrastructure required to receive, deploy, and account for capital was never built. No legal entity, or an entity incorrectly structured for the nature of the institutional engagement. Financial records that cannot support a credit decision. Governance too informal to meet programme requirements. Compliance gaps that disqualify before assessment even begins.
The bottleneck is not ambition. It is not market opportunity. It is structural readiness, and it is buildable. SME360 works directly with DFIs, development finance intermediaries, NGOs, and government enterprise programmes as a credible, practitioner-led technical partner. We use the Enterprise Readiness Ladder™ (ERL™) as a structured, measurable framework to take beneficiary businesses from institutional gaps to programme-ready enterprises, on your timeline, to your reporting standards, and with the accountability that institutional mandates require.
What SME360 Delivers for Institutional PartnersBeneficiary businesses that arrive at your programme structurally unprepared leave as institutionally credible, compliant, and financially visible enterprises. Disbursement conditions are met. Reporting requirements are satisfied. Credit decisions are supported by verified financial records. The infrastructure required to absorb and account for the support was built before the support arrived, which is the only way a programme can deliver the outcomes it was designed to produce.
Many beneficiaries are not properly registered with the CAC, or are registered incorrectly
operating informally with no legal entity, incorporated as a business name where a private limited company is required, registered with the wrong shareholding structure, or carrying unresolved annual return arrears and post-incorporation gaps that compromise their legal standing as a recipient of institutional support
Statutory compliance gaps block programme participation
not registered as DNFBPs despite being within scope of the SCUML framework, or registered but not filing required returns and reports; TIN not activated or relevant tax returns unfiled, making TCC acquisition impossible regardless of tax liability; not registered with PENCOM, NSITF, or ITF for pension contributions, NSITF levy, and ITF levy obligations respectively, each assessed before merit is considered
Governance structures are informal or absent
disqualifying otherwise eligible businesses before programme assessment begins
Beneficiaries lack financial records that can support a credit decision
or evidence fund utilisation and repayment, making disbursement and accountability impossible
No structured reporting infrastructure
programme monitoring, results measurement, and fund accountability cannot be evidenced
SME360 resolves each systematically before programme engagement begins, using the ERL™ as the diagnostic and delivery framework.
Every engagement is led directly by the firm's principal practitioner, whose credentials span finance, governance, tax, consulting, and digital infrastructure.
All credentials independently verifiable. SME360 is an Intuit-certified QuickBooks Online firm.
Infrastructure Ladder Position: All Rungs (Beneficiary-Level). SME360 works across all six ERL™ rungs to bring each beneficiary business from its current infrastructure position to the rung your programme requires, assessed, documented, and verified.