Education
FSD Africa, UK commit $335,000 to boost investment in Nigerian women-led businesses – EnviroNews
– Advertisement –
FSD Africa, with funding from the UK Government through the British High Commission in Nigeria, has committed $335,000 to establish the RiTA Investment Network, a platform designed to expand access to growth capital for women-led businesses in Nigeria.
The investment, equivalent to approximately £247,000, will support the creation of a structured investment platform by Rising Tide Africa, a women-led, pan-African network of angel investors.
The RiTA Investment Network aims to mobilise $2.7 million, approximately ₦3.75 billion, from Nigerian investors, including high-net-worth individuals, angel investors and family offices, to finance 15 small and growing women-led businesses across the country.
The initiative seeks to address persistent financing barriers facing Nigerian small businesses, particularly those owned by women.
According to estimates by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Nigeria’s small businesses face a financing gap of about ₦13 trillion, with 19 in 20 unable to access formal finance.
Women entrepreneurs face additional challenges, despite owning approximately 40 per cent of Nigeria’s small businesses. The statement noted that women-led businesses are rejected for credit at more than three times the rate of businesses owned by men.
For many women entrepreneurs, the obstacle is not their ability to build successful businesses or repay loans, but their inability to provide assets, such as land, traditionally required by banks as collateral.
Speaking on the initiative, Head of Green Growth and Private Sector Development at the British High Commission, Paul Healey, said the partnership forms part of the UK Government’s broader efforts to improve access to finance for promising small and growing businesses.
“Women entrepreneurs are building successful businesses across Nigeria, but many still face barriers to accessing the investment they need to grow. This partnership between the UK Government, FSD Africa and Rising Tide Africa is changing that,” Healey said.
He added that the initiative would strengthen connections between women-led businesses and investors, creating opportunities for more enterprises to start, expand and contribute to Nigeria’s economy through job creation.
Director for Early-Stage Finance at FSD Africa, Juliet Munro, said the network would help mobilise domestic capital and channel it into businesses with growth potential.
“Nigeria does not lack capital. Women angel investors in Rising Tide Africa have shown for years that they will back women-led businesses with their own money. The RiTA Investment Network gives that capital the structure and instrument to grow, in Naira, and at scale,” Munro said.
The initiative is also designed to address the currency risks associated with financing businesses in foreign currencies.
Much of the growth capital available to African businesses is denominated in US dollars, making repayment more expensive for companies earning revenue in naira when the local currency depreciates.
The RiTA Investment Network aims to connect Nigerian private wealth with smaller businesses through a local-currency investment model.
Under the arrangement, Rising Tide Africa will build on its experience of investing collectively in 39 companies to establish a formal platform supported by professional credit assessment, an investment committee, an advisory board, and monitoring and reporting systems.
Investors will be able to select the businesses they wish to support on a transaction-by-transaction basis.
Financing will primarily take the form of revenue-based finance, under which repayments fluctuate with a business’s sales. The model is intended to support profitable businesses that lack conventional collateral and want to avoid giving up ownership stakes to equity investors.
Yemi Keri, general partner and spokesperson for the RiTA Investment Network, said the funding would help establish the structures required to expand investment in women-led enterprises.
“Women-led businesses in Nigeria are growing, and they need lenders who understand how they work. We founded RiTA to give investors a disciplined way to lend to them, one business at a time. FSD Africa’s support lets us build the structure, the discipline and the data to do this at scale,” Keri said.
According to the statement, FSD Africa’s funding will cover the cost of establishing the network during its first three years, including its team, legal structure, governance arrangements and operational systems, before it becomes self-sustaining through fees.
Rising Tide Africa has already secured approximately $1.5 million in soft commitments from its network. For every dollar provided by FSD Africa, the platform aims to mobilise about eight dollars in Nigerian private capital.
The partnership builds on a year of advisory work between FSD Africa and Rising Tide Africa and forms part of FSD Africa’s wider collaboration with the British High Commission to deepen early-stage financing in Nigeria.
The network completed its first transaction in September 2026, involving a syndicated corporate note to Ororo Waste Management Limited. Two additional businesses are undergoing structuring and due diligence.
Beyond its immediate investment target, the initiative is intended to lay the groundwork for Rising Tide Africa’s planned $10 million, naira-denominated growth debt fund for women-led businesses and help attract institutional investors.
The network also plans to develop resources that other emerging fund managers in Nigeria can use, including a legal template for investments under the Investments and Securities Act 2025, a guide to naira-denominated revenue-based finance, and credit performance data on women-led businesses.
These resources are expected to help demonstrate the viability of lending to women-led enterprises at scale and reduce the costs associated with establishing similar investment platforms.
FSD Africa said the RiTA Investment Network aligns with its Early-Stage Finance strategy to mobilise diverse sources of African capital for small and growing businesses.
Alongside angel investor networks and private wealth, the organisation is working with corporates, local fund managers and institutional investors to establish financing channels that connect domestic capital with businesses seeking to expand.
