Running a business in Nigeria means wearing ten hats at once. You're managing operations, chasing payments, keeping customers happy — and on top of that, you're supposed to be tracking government tenders, watching the exchange rate, staying on top of tax deadlines, and checking if that new "partner" company is actually registered with CAC.
Most business owners handle this by not handling it. They find out about a tender after the deadline passes. They miss a regulatory change until a penalty arrives. They check the naira rate on a WhatsApp group. The cost of this information gap is real, and it compounds quietly.
We built six free tools to close that gap. No sign-up required. No credit card. No "start your free trial" trap. Just bookmarked URLs that do one job well.
Here they are.
1. Tender Radar — Government Contracts, Delivered
Every year, the Nigerian government, World Bank, African Development Bank, and humanitarian organisations publish thousands of procurement opportunities. Most Nigerian SMEs never see them — not because they're hidden, but because nobody has time to check six different websites every morning.
Tender Radar aggregates procurement notices from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), World Bank, AfDB, Devex, ReliefWeb, and Google News into a single AI-synthesised brief. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, it tells you:
- Which sectors are active right now (Construction? ICT? Consulting?)
- The top 3-5 opportunities worth your attention
- What the procurement trends mean for your business
- Practical tips for bidding on these contracts
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, a lighter "Quick" version gives you the snapshot without the deep analysis. Either way, you spend two minutes instead of two hours.
Browse latest tenders →2. Grants Brief — Free Money for Your Business
The Tony Elumelu Foundation alone has funded over 18,000 African entrepreneurs with $5,000 each in non-returnable seed capital. The Bank of Industry, LSETF, Google for Startups, and dozens of other organisations run grant programmes that Nigerian businesses qualify for. The problem isn't a lack of funding — it's awareness.
Grants Brief scans sources including the Tony Elumelu Foundation, BOI Nigeria, LSETF, Opportunities for Africans, Google for Startups, and news aggregators. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, you get:
- Active grant programmes with deadlines
- Eligibility requirements at a glance
- Application tips from successful past applicants
- Trends in Nigerian and African funding
If you've ever told yourself "there's no funding for my business," spend five minutes on this page before you repeat that sentence.
See current grant opportunities →3. Naira Monitor — Exchange Rate at a Glance
If your business imports raw materials, pays for software in dollars, or prices goods based on replacement cost, you check the exchange rate every day. Most people check it on a WhatsApp broadcast or a news site buried in ads.
Naira Monitor pulls data directly from the CBN (official rate), the parallel market, and the World Bank (inflation rate) every three hours. You see:
- Official CBN USD/NGN rate (buy and sell)
- Parallel (black) market rate (buy and sell)
- The spread between official and parallel — a key indicator of forex pressure
- Latest inflation rate from the World Bank
- CBN Monetary Policy Rate (MPR)
- 7-day trend chart showing where rates are headed
No ads, no commentary, no opinion — just the numbers, updated automatically.
Check today's rates →4. Regulatory Watch — What the Government Changed While You Were Busy
CBN issues a circular that changes lending rules. FIRS announces a new filing requirement. NAFDAC updates product registration guidelines. CAC changes the annual returns process. Any one of these can cost your business money if you miss it — and most SMEs do, because tracking five regulatory bodies is a full-time job.
Regulatory Watch monitors CBN circulars, FIRS press releases, NAFDAC alerts, CAC public notices, and regulatory news daily. Each brief tells you:
- What changed (in plain English, not government-speak)
- Which authority issued it
- How it affects your business specifically
- What action you should take
Think of it as your regulatory early-warning system — running in the background while you focus on revenue.
Read latest regulatory updates →5. Compliance Calendar — Never Miss a Deadline Again
VAT returns are due on the 21st of every month. PAYE by the 14th. Pension remittances by the 7th. CAC annual returns by June 30. CIT by March 31. Withholding tax by the 21st. ITF contributions. NSITF. The list is long, and the penalties are real — late VAT filing alone costs ₦50,000 for the first month.
Compliance Calendar lays out every Nigerian business compliance deadline in one place, grouped by month:
- Monthly deadlines (VAT, PAYE, PENCOM, WHT, NSITF)
- Quarterly deadlines (CIT instalments)
- Annual deadlines (CIT returns, ITF, CAC annual returns, PENCOM certificate, TCC renewal)
- Each entry shows the authority, the penalty for missing it, and whether it's recurring
- Past deadlines for the current year are preserved for reference
Bookmark this page. Your accountant will thank you.
View compliance calendar →6. CAC Business Name Search — Verify Any Company in Seconds
Before you sign a contract with a new vendor, before you extend credit to a customer, before you partner with another business — you should verify they actually exist. The CAC public register is the official source, but navigating the iCRP portal on your phone is an exercise in patience.
CAC Search is a clean, fast interface that queries the CAC public register and returns:
- Business name and registration number (RC number)
- Registration status
It's the simplest tool on this list, and potentially the most valuable. Thirty seconds of due diligence can save you from a six-month headache.
Search the CAC register →Why We Built These (And Why They're Free)
VIJOSAK is an AI-powered business assistant for Nigerian SMEs. Our paid products — the AI Workspace and Deals Marketplace — help you write reports, analyse data, manage documents, and run group-buying deals with built-in escrow protection.
But not every business is ready for an AI workspace. Some are still figuring out whether technology can actually help them. These six tools are our answer to that question: yes, it can — here's the proof, free of charge.
Each tool solves a specific, painful problem that Nigerian business owners face every day. We built them because we needed them ourselves. We made them free because information asymmetry is bad for the economy — when small businesses can't access the same intelligence as big ones, everyone loses.
The strategy is simple: these tools attract entrepreneurs who are actively looking for tenders, grants, exchange rates, regulatory updates, compliance deadlines, and company verification. That's exactly the audience who will eventually need an AI workspace to manage everything they're working on.
If you find value in the free tools, you'll naturally explore what the paid product can do. If not, you still got six useful bookmarks out of the deal. Either way, we're good.
What to Do Right Now
- Bookmark this page — it links to all six tools. Come back anytime.
- Open the tool that solves your most urgent problem today. Chasing contracts? Start with Tender Radar. Worried about the naira? Naira Monitor. Tax deadline looming? Compliance Calendar.
- Share this with one other business owner. The more Nigerian SMEs that use these tools, the more competitive our entire ecosystem becomes.
- When you're ready to level up, create a free AI Workspace and see what happens when you combine market intelligence with AI-powered execution.
No sign-up walls. No credit card forms. No "start your free trial" fine print. Just six tools that work.
Because running a business in Nigeria is hard enough already.