It was a convergence of innovation, ambition, and opportunity as entrepreneurs, business leaders, gathered at the Global Business submit, a high-profile networking event held in Lagos.
The summit, which served as a prelude to the upcoming Global Entrepreneur Festival scheduled for November in Accra, Ghana, drew hundreds of participants eager to connect and share insights.
The 2025 Global Business summit had the theme: “Role of Collaboration, Leveraging AI, Global Expansion”.
It was more than just an evening of networking, the event provided a vital platform for young entrepreneurs and business owners to exchange ideas, explore partnerships, and tap into opportunities across the global business landscape.
From seasoned executives to rising founders, attendees engaged in conversations that reflected the energy and creativity driving Africa’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The atmosphere at the Oriental Hotel was charged with optimism as participants embraced the vision of building cross-border collaborations that could redefine business growth on the continent.
Speaking at the event, Dan Wolkovitz, Chairman of the 2025 Global Entrepreneurship Festival (GEF), said that Nigeria and Africa were blessed with enormous human and natural resources but was often misrepresented in the media.
Wolkovitz said his visit to Ondo State for last year’s entrepreneurship festival was an eye opener about the huge potentials that Nigeria was blessed with, particularly the untapped market available in the country.
Jubril Arogundade, the chairman of the board in Nigeria, said the event provides those in business with the opportunity to connect, to exchange knowledge, to build partnerships that cross borders, and to unlock opportunities that strengthen both industries and economies.
He stated that this year’s Business Mixer theme was not just a topic for discussion, but a call to action, while challenging each of participants to reimagine how they do business, to break barriers, and to open doors that lead to greater success across nations.
“The importance of Global Business Mixers cannot be overstated. In today’s world, the economy is increasingly interconnected. No country, no business, can truly thrive in isolation.
“Let us form friendships, alliances, and collaborations that will continue long after tonight’s conversations end. Together, we can create bridges that power innovation, trade, and shared prosperity,” Arogundade said.
Summy Francis, Project Lead for Global Entrepreneurship Festival, said that the Global Business Mix up is a viewing up event for the entrepreneurship festival coming up in November, which would afford business owners and entrepreneurs’ opportunity to network with colleagues in different parts of the world, sell their brands, products, while emphasising on the need of global partnership and global trade.
He said the event which would be held in Ghana is expected to boost trade, and attract investment to Nigeria, Ghana and the continent at large, while also opening up new potential markets for products.
According to him, “How will the business contribute to our national beauty? Of course, entrepreneurs are the drivers of the economy. They are the lifeline of any economy.
“And this happening in Africa is a big win. It’s a big win for Nigeria. It’s a big win for Africa in general.
“And I am so glad that this has spotlighted not just entrepreneurship, but entrepreneurial players that are doing tremendous work in this continent and, of course, in this nation.
“Whatever you’re building, stay in there. There are platforms like this that would appreciate you, platforms like this that would also recognize you, and platforms like this that would empower you”.
Also speaking, Nancy Taiye Aragbaye, an entrepreneur and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Strategic Solutions Global and Board Member of the Global Entrepreneurship, said the Global Business summit gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to sell themselves and their products to the larger market.
She pledged to assist entrepreneurs to attend the festival in Ghana, noting that there were many businesses and companies that were engaging in trade that were unknown to potential buyers within and outside the country.
She advised Nigerian entrepreneurs to remain steadfast and focused despite the challenge of doing business in the country, noting that there would be breakthrough along the way.