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Strategy comes alive when the economy is viewed like a chessboard. We reframe Nigeria’s markets across 64 squares, where each square represents an industry and each piece mirrors a real actor: kings as policy institutions, queens as visionary industrialists, rooks as powerful conglomerates, bishops as diagonal innovators, knights as agile dealmakers, and pawns as the countless SMEs pushing toward promotion. What looks like a flat board hides a layered terrain of liquidity, regulation, and technology—tilts that speed up some moves and slow others.

We unpack how colonial openings constrained the early game and how today’s middle game is defined by consolidation, alliances, and vertical integration across cement, energy, finance, logistics, and telecoms. From diversification to innovation leaps, we explore the tactics that build durable advantage in Nigeria’s economy: strategic castling through public–private partnerships, surviving regulatory ambushes like sudden forex or tax changes, and the long march of promotion as startups scale into regional leaders. We highlight the role of industrialists who move like queens across multiple files, the steady influence of rooks in pan-African institutions, and the surprising jumps of knights who time entries and exits for outsized impact.

At the center of this story are SMEs—the pawns whose disciplined grind unlocks transformation. With patient play, access to capital, and smart policy, the smallest pieces can reshape entire files. We close with practical takeaways: choose the right square, understand your piece, read the gradients beneath your market, and plan three moves ahead. If you’re a founder, policymaker, or operator, this lens helps you make clearer decisions, build resilient strategies, and spot new diagonals of growth.

Enjoy the episode, then share it with someone who’s ready to rethink their playbook. Follow our channels, subscribe for fresh drops, and leave a review to tell us which move you’re making next.

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