Three years of the National MSME Conference.
Every edition, we designed the brand and the experience; every edition, we did more. In 2024, at State House in Abuja, we shaped the identity and how the day looked: the stage, the screens, the speaker moments and a pitch that drew almost 3,700 applications. In 2025, at the Federal Palace in Lagos, we designed a bigger experience, from registration and guest emails to the stage and the take-home kit, and added storytelling for more than 2,000 delegates. In 2026, at the Ecobank Pan African Centre, it grew into three days, seven rooms, a 156-business marketplace and a ₦50M pitch.
In 2026 we added the systems that run it: the website, registration and ticketing, a fair pitch review, check-in, operations and a public API.
The brand, grown up
Each year the identity matured. For 2026: a wine-deep palette, pink Fraunces headlines, yellow bowtie separators, a dusk gradient, and a triangle pattern that builds in and pulses like a heartbeat.
And out in the world: on the streets of Victoria Island, and in the hands of every delegate.
Experience design
Experience design has been ours since 2024. We sync everything on screen with the stage, design for social media, and direct stage presence: lights, camera work, how each moment looks. We also run registration and guest communication, from the first newsletter to the day itself. In 2026 it grew into seven rooms, each with a purpose, and a public marketplace of 156 businesses from all 36 states and the FCT.
Behind the scenes · 2024 and 2025
Storytelling
Recap films from every day, the pitch competition on the main stage, the keynote moments, and photography of the people who make it happen.
The website
conference.smedan.gov.ng moves through the theme, the room in 2025, the room in 2026, the programme, the people, the marketplace, the pitch and three ways to take part. Numbers count up, the marketplace list ticks in row by row, and the pitch podium carries animated medals.
Mobile, by design
A bottom bar like an app, day tabs in reach, forms that save as you go, and the ticket in your pocket.
Start now, finish later
Every application saves automatically and shows its progress: the section, the percentage, the time since the last save, and the days left to the deadline. Save and exit from anywhere, or copy your link. We email a resume link that always opens the latest version, stays live for five days after the last save, and reminds you of the deadline.
The ticket
Issued the moment you register, in your inbox and your pocket, and scanned green at the door.
Registration that verifies itself
SMEDAN ID first: the field formats as you type, checks the agency’s register live, fills in the business and flags mismatches for a person to review. It never rejects. Pitch applicants’ social posts are checked too: is it live, and who posted it.
The pitch review system
In 2024, judges scored finalists on a printed grid. In 2026, it became a system: a random, even first pass; a scored round where each application meets three new reviewers on eight criteria; and a final 50 scored by the whole panel, where founder names appear for the first time. Scores are calibrated for strict and generous reviewers, and files open through short-lived, logged links.
The operations console
Pitch review, marketplace decisions, attendees and requests with segments and exports, charts on every screen, event-day check-in from a phone, branded emails with safe test sends, role permissions with a second sign-in step, a walkthrough for new staff and an activity log.
Connected systems
The event strategists plan and publish in the event builder built by Temi Akinsanya. A locked-down, read-only public API serves agenda, speakers, exhibitors and tracks to the website and to anyone building on it. Drafts never leak.
Event builder
Strategists plan and publish sessions. Built by Temi Akinsanya.
3 drafts · 41 published
GROW API
A locked, read-only slice: agenda, speakers, exhibitors, tracks.
Read-only keys. Drafts never leave the builder.
Website
Updates the moment a session is published.
Anyone
Partners and developers build on the same feed.
From an empty repository to live. Next.js · React · TypeScript · Tailwind · Supabase · Vercel
Results
Open resources · free
Credits
