In many ways, 2025 felt like a year Plateau State had quietly been preparing for.
Across Jos, opportunity arrived not as a single defining moment, but as a steady rhythm of event after event, one gathering after the next, all drawing business owners, creatives, and entrepreneurs into rooms where ideas were exchanged, markets were opened, and possibilities felt closer than they had anywhere else in the world.
For small business owners, it was a year that promised growth. A year that suggested that if you showed up, learned, and stayed visible, your business could shift lanes from small to big. And for many, it did.
From entrepreneurship summits and MSME carnivals to food festivals, trade fairs, cultural exhibitions, and fashion showcases, Plateau State in 2025 positioned itself as a meeting ground for culture and celebration, as well as enterprise. It was the kind of year that made business owners believe that the ground beneath them was finally being tilled for something bigger. And it was.
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A Year Built Around Opportunity
The calendar alone told the story. The Plateau Entrepreneurship and Investment Summit (PLEIS) in July brought conversations around innovation, funding, and youth enterprise into focus. In the same vein, the Jos Food Festival returned mid-year with its Owambe edition before closing the year with its Grill Fest anniversary, both creating space for food entrepreneurs to test markets and visibility.
MSME carnivals, exhibitions, and trade fairs followed, while cultural and fashion events like the Tin City Fashion Week as well as the Plateau Cultural Carnival showcased local talent and drew new audiences into the state.
Taken together, these weren’t isolated happenings; they formed a pattern. Each event built on the last, creating a sense that 2025 was intentionally designed to bring people together—business owners and customers, creators and collaborators—in ways that could translate into growth. As one would imagine, for many entrepreneurs in Jos, it felt like the best place to be.
A Business Still Finding its Footing
For Nenrotmwa Jonathan, 2025 arrived with cautious hope. A baker by trade, Nenrotmwa had been running her business for about four years. However, before 2025, it was still small, still struggling, still trying to find stability in a market that rarely forgives missteps.
“It has been my world,” she said of the business. “I have given it so much of my time and resources, and to the glory of God, it is all paying off.”
Through the years, she admitted that the feedback she received from customers kept her going even when hurdles rose. Customers’ reviews suggested her products stood out as an upgrade from what they were used to and this helped her reach my people, but passion and positive reviews don’t always translate into predictable growth. As a result, like many other small business owners, she entered 2025 with the awareness that something had to change.
Learning, Exposure, and New Perspective
Luckily, the year offered her that chance. Through trainings and exhibitions, Nenrotmwa found herself in rooms with other business owners, exposed to ideas and practices she hadn’t fully considered before. She learned where she had been getting things wrong, and more importantly, where she could improve.
“I saw things I needed to adjust,” she explained. “And I made solid connections.”
These spaces did not just offer information; they also afforded perspective. Sitting alongside others helped her measure her own processes differently, rethink how she priced, how she presented her brand, and how she planned for growth. In that sense, 2025 delivered on its promise. But opportunity, she would soon learn, doesn’t erase reality.
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When Endurance Became the Real Test
The same year that opened doors also tested how much strain a small business could bear. Income improved in 2025, Nenrotmwa shared, but it came alongside losses that shook the business.
“Some days were better than others,” she recalled. “Some months carried hope, while others demanded resilience. There were moments when power supply was off and my products went bad. And with the surge in data prices as well as disrupted internet connection, I could barely stay online to connect with customers.”
She spoke without exaggeration, but the weight was there. Power outages didn’t just interrupt work; they threatened finished products and cut off access to customers. What should have been short disruptions stretched longer than expected, forcing difficult decisions and, at times, unavoidable losses.
Yet, even in the middle of these challenges, the year surprised her with increased demand. She shared that during the period of school sign-outs at the various tertiary institutions in Jos, business picked up and the checkbooks balanced out themselves.
“One particular month,” she mused, “generated more income than the rest of the year combined. That was when I realized that progress in 2025 came in uneven waves. It was a mixture of pleasant and difficult, and both existed at the same time.”
A Shared Struggle
Nenrotmwa’s experience wasn’t unique.
Across Nigeria in 2025, businesses contended with recurring national grid collapses and rising operating costs. Power instability continued to disrupt production cycles, while the cost of staying connected climbed sharply after telecom tariff increases were approved earlier in the year.
For small businesses that relied heavily on online engagement, visibility came at a higher price. These pressures formed the backdrop against which Plateau’s entrepreneurs tried to make the most of the opportunities placed before them. The result was a year defined not by ease, but by adjustment.
Choosing to Adapt
Rather than retreat, Nenrotmwa adapted.
She joined online marketplaces and took content creation seriously, using platforms like TikTok and WhatsApp to reach new customers. The effort paid off with increased referrals, growing orders, and improved visibility.
“I got good results,” she shared.
Furthermore, behind the scenes, she began thinking differently about structure in the form of pricing, record-keeping, and how decisions today would affect sustainability tomorrow. Summatively, 2025, for her, became a practical education in survival and growth.
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Looking into 2026 with Cautious Resolve
If 2025 was a year of learning, 2026 has arrived with new questions. The introduction of tax reforms has left many small business owners uncertain, and Nenrotmwa is no exception.
“I’m still quite confused,” she admitted. “There are so many articles saying different things. But, I believe that if the tax reform is carried out properly, it shouldn’t be a setback as there are ways to maneuver these things.”
Hence, her goals for the year ahead are focused on the principles of growing her online presence, expanding her customer base, bringing on resellers, and creating income opportunities for others along the way.
What the Year Ultimately Revealed
Looking back, 2025 was in no way a perfect year, and it was not meant to be. It was a year of exposure and endurance, of progress interrupted by reality, and lessons learned the hard way. For Plateau State, it showed what is possible when opportunity is made visible; and for business owners like Nenrotmwa, it revealed the resilience required to turn access into growth.
Her advice to others was consequently simple, but hard-earned: to take accounting seriously, invest in your mind, cultivate saving habits, and separate business funds from personal ones. In that sense, 2025 did what few years manage to do. It went beyond testing businesses to actually training them. And for many Plateau entrepreneurs stepping into 2026, that training may be the most valuable asset they carry forward.