UK, FSD Africa Partner to mobilise N3.75b for Women-Led Businesses in Nigeria

The UK Government, through its development agency FSD Africa, has announced plans to mobilise $2.7 million (about ₦3.75 billion) for women-led businesses across Nigeria.
Under the three-year partnership, FSD Africa is putting up $335,000 (about £247,000) in seed funding to set up the Rising Tide Africa (RiTA) Investment Network. The platform will structure and scale local currency investments in 15 fast-growing, female-headed enterprises.
Banks turning women away
The move comes as Nigeria’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) struggle with an estimated ₦13 trillion funding gap, according to International Finance Corporation (IFC) data. Some 95 per cent of small firms cannot access formal credit.
Women feel the squeeze most. They run roughly 40 per cent of the country’s small businesses but are turned down by banks more than three times as often as men, mainly because of collateral demands such as land ownership.
A statement issued on Wednesday by Ndidiamaka Eze, Senior Press Officer at the UK High Commission in Abuja, quoted Paul Healey, Head of Green Growth and Private Sector Development at the British High Commission, on the importance of closing the gap.
“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. “Together, we are building stronger connections between women-led businesses and investors, creating opportunities for more businesses to start, grow, and thrive.”
Repayments follow sales
To get around traditional banking hurdles and reduce the foreign exchange risk of dollar-denominated debt, the network will mainly use revenue-based financing (RBF). Repayments move with a business’s actual sales, so no hard collateral is needed and owners do not give up equity.
Juliet Munro, Director for Early-Stage Finance at FSD Africa, said the platform taps existing domestic wealth to provide sustainable, naira-based capital.
“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,” Munro said. “The RiTA Investment Network gives that capital the structure and instrument to grow, in Naira, and at scale.”
$10m debt fund in sight
Rising Tide Africa has already secured about $1.5 million in soft commitments from local high-net-worth individuals, angel investors and family offices. The model aims to draw eight dollars of private Nigerian capital for every dollar of FSD Africa’s institutional support.
Yemi Keri, General Partner at the RiTA Investment Network, welcomed the grant as a key catalyst towards a broader $10 million local currency debt fund.
“Women-led businesses in Nigeria are growing, and they need lenders who understand how they work,” Keri said. “FSD Africa’s support lets us build the structure, the discipline, and the data to do this at scale.”
The network completed its first deal in September, a syndicated corporate note to Ororo Waste Management Limited. Two more transactions are undergoing due diligence.
Beyond direct financing, the initiative plans to publish legal templates under the Investments and Securities Act 2025, credit performance data and operational playbooks to help set standard frameworks for future fund managers in Nigeria.