The Lagos Mainland Trade Fair is set to ignite unprecedented economic growth and entrepreneurial opportunities across Nigeria’s commercial capital. Scheduled for September 6-7, 2025, at Yard 158 Events Arena on Kudirat Abiola Way in Ikeja, this transformative two-day event promises to become a game-changer for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and local businesses throughout Lagos.
The fair represents a powerful collaboration between two influential women driving Nigeria’s entrepreneurial landscape. Monalisa Abimbola Azeh, a lawyer-turned-entrepreneur who founded Mona Matthews, has curated the event with Olori Janet Afolabi, CNN award-winning journalist and Queen of Apomu Kingdom in Osun State. This partnership reflects their shared commitment to supporting local businesses and entrepreneurs through impactful initiatives.
Azeh, who established her leather goods company in 2002 to serve underserved customers seeking quality footwear, emphasized that this event goes far beyond traditional commerce. “It is not just a shopping affair but an innovation, discovery and encouraging entrepreneurial strength in Lagos by providing a platform for business to thrive and communities to flourish,” she stated in the official announcement.
Comprehensive Business Ecosystem Under One Roof
The trade fair will feature over 100 versatile vendors representing diverse sectors including fashion, food, lifestyle, technology, beauty, and professional services. The event design prioritizes creating a dynamic marketplace experience with exclusive bargains, one-of-a-kind brands, and entertainment options for families.
Yard 158 Events Arena, the chosen venue, spans approximately 11 acres and offers a 1,500-person banquet capacity with 2,500-person conference capabilities. This makes it one of Lagos’s largest private event spaces, perfectly positioned to accommodate the anticipated thousands of participants including Lagos residents, SMEs, and established brands.
Strategic Networking and Investment Opportunities
Beyond traditional exhibition formats, the fair emphasizes networking opportunities connecting entrepreneurs with potential partners, customers, and investors. The event structure includes dedicated spaces for food courts, entertainment programs, and raffle giveaways designed to create an engaging atmosphere for business relationship building.
For participating buyers, the fair promises direct interaction with manufacturers, access to discounted prices, and exclusive deals typically unavailable through conventional retail channels. This buyer-seller dynamic aims to foster immediate business transactions and long-term partnerships.
Broader Context Within Lagos’s Economic Landscape
The Lagos Mainland Trade Fair emerges within Nigeria’s expanding trade exhibition ecosystem. The timing strategically positions it ahead of major events including the Lagos International Trade Fair scheduled for November 2025, and the Nigeria International Trade Fair (NITF’25) planned for October-November 2025, which expects to attract over 100,000 participants.
This positioning allows smaller businesses to leverage the momentum building toward these larger international events while accessing more intimate networking environments. The recent success of the 2025 Lagos Tourism NBC Trade Fair, which generated significant business connections and supported local entrepreneurs, demonstrates Lagos’s growing appetite for such collaborative business platforms.
Amplifying Rural-Urban Economic Connections
Olori Afolabi’s involvement brings unique value through her extensive humanitarian work and rural development experience. Since 2020, she has provided interest-free loans to over 100 market women in Apomu, with remarkable success rates and zero defaults. Her recent launch of the Olori Janet Afolabi Foundation Food Bank, which distributed 150 bags of rice during Ileya festival, showcases her commitment to addressing rural economic challenges.
This rural-urban business bridge created through her collaboration with Azeh represents a gateway to business opportunities extending far beyond Lagos’s metropolitan boundaries, potentially connecting rural producers with urban markets and distribution networks.
Digital Age Business Transformation
The fair occurs during Nigeria’s significant digital transformation period, with the country hosting major tech events like GITEX NIGERIA 2025 in September and the Lagos Startup Week. This convergence creates unprecedented opportunities for traditional businesses to integrate digital solutions and for tech entrepreneurs to connect with established market channels.
The timing also coincides with Nigeria’s push toward AfCFTA participation, positioning local businesses to potentially access continental markets worth $2.1 trillion by 2025.
Community Impact and Economic Multiplier Effects
With Mona Matthews’s established customer base of over 2,000 international and Nigerian customers, and Azeh’s reputation for quality leather goods production, the fair benefits from proven business credibility. The venue’s location in Ikeja, surrounded by major corporations and accessible transportation networks, ensures maximum visibility and participation.
The two-day format encourages sustained engagement rather than brief interactions, allowing for deeper business relationships and more comprehensive product demonstrations. This extended timeline enables participants to conduct meaningful negotiations and establish concrete business agreements.
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