BoI partners Grow Africa to raise $60m Venture Capital Fund for SMEs
Nigeria’s Bank of Industry is partnering with the Grow Africa Equity to raise a $60 million Venture Capital Fund for Small and Medium Enterprises SMEs in Nigeria. The funding arrangement will provide funding and strategic and operational support to early stage and fast growing businesses in technology, agriculture, consumer goods and services sectors.
Making this known, the Managing Director, Mr Rasheed Olaoluwa, said that BOI’s partnership with Grow Africa is one of the avenues for realising the bank’s vision of providing sorely needed equity capital and business advice to promising Nigerian businesses and that the Bank remains committed to the pursuit of its core mandate of providing long-term financial support to small, medium and large companies/projects in Nigeria’s key sectors.”
Under the arrangement, the bank has made an investment commitment of $6 million to aid provision of equity capital for fast growing businesses as part of its innovative financing scheme and efforts to expand intervention in the industrial sector from loan disbursements.
On his part, the Managing Director of the company, Mr. Afam Edozie, said “Through this partnership, I hope to see many more entrepreneurs realise their dreams of creating leading companies and delivering massive value to Nigeria.”
The Chairman of Grow Africa Equity Partners, Adedotun Sulaiman, added that with the right type of support, Nigerian businesses could become global leaders. Sulaiman, who also chairs the Boards of Interswitch, SecureID, IDEA, New Horizons and others, said
- an African-owned, country-led, market-based and inclusive platform for cross-sector collaboration,
- to increase inclusive and responsible investment in to African agriculture,
- and thereby generate agriculture-driven economic growth that contributes to reducing poverty and hunger.
