The United Kingdom Government and FSD Africa have committed $335,000 to establish an investment network aimed at improving access to finance for women-led businesses in Nigeria and mobilising $2.7 million in local investment over the next three years.
The initiative, known as the RiTA Investment Network, was established by Rising Tide Africa, a pan-African network of women angel investors, to connect women entrepreneurs with Nigerian investors and provide growth capital to small and growing businesses.
The investment, equivalent to approximately £247,000, is funded by FSD Africa with support from the UK Government through the British High Commission in Nigeria.
The network aims to mobilise funds from high-net-worth individuals, angel investors and family offices to support 15 women-led businesses across the country, helping them expand their operations, create jobs and contribute to economic growth.
According to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Nigeria’s small businesses face a financing gap estimated at about N13 trillion, with 19 out of every 20 unable to access formal finance.
Women entrepreneurs face additional challenges, as they own approximately 40 per cent of the country’s small businesses but are rejected for credit at more than three times the rate of their male counterparts.
The initiative seeks to address these barriers by connecting businesses with investors willing to provide financing without relying solely on conventional bank lending requirements, including the provision of physical assets as collateral.
Speaking on the partnership, the Head of Green Growth and Private Sector Development at the British High Commission, Paul Healey, said the initiative formed part of the UK Government’s broader efforts to expand 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 partnership would strengthen connections between women-led businesses and investors, creating opportunities for enterprises to grow, generate employment and contribute to Nigeria’s economy.
The Director for Early-Stage Finance at FSD Africa, Juliet Munro, said the initiative would help mobilise domestic capital and channel it towards 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.
She noted that financing businesses in local currency was particularly important because companies earning revenue in naira could face higher repayment costs when borrowing in US dollars during periods of currency depreciation.
The network is designed to provide a structured investment platform supported by professional credit assessment, an investment committee, an advisory board, and monitoring and reporting systems to give investors greater confidence.
Its financing model will largely rely on revenue-based finance, under which repayments fluctuate according to a business’s sales performance. The approach is intended to support profitable businesses that lack conventional collateral and wish to retain ownership rather than raise equity capital.
Yemi Keri, general partner and spokesperson for the RiTA Investment Network, said the funding would help strengthen the platform’s capacity to provide financing to women-owned 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.
Rising Tide Africa has already secured about $1.5 million in soft commitments from its network, while the new platform aims to attract approximately eight dollars in Nigerian private capital for every dollar invested by FSD Africa.
The funding will cover the network’s establishment costs over its first three years, including staffing, legal structures, governance and operational systems, before it becomes self-sustaining through fees.
The network completed its first transaction in September 2026, providing a syndicated corporate note to Ororo Waste Management Limited. Two additional businesses are undergoing structuring and due diligence.
Beyond its immediate target, the initiative is expected to support Rising Tide Africa’s longer-term ambition to establish a $10 million, naira-denominated growth debt fund for women-led businesses and attract institutional investors.
The platform also plans to develop practical resources for emerging fund managers, including legal templates for investments under the Investments and Securities Act 2025, guidance on revenue-based financing in naira and credit performance data on women-led businesses.
The partners said these resources would help demonstrate the viability of financing women-owned enterprises at scale while reducing the costs and challenges associated with establishing similar investment platforms.
The RiTA Investment Network forms part of FSD Africa’s Early-Stage Finance strategy, which seeks to mobilise African capital for small and growing businesses by strengthening connections among private investors, angel networks, local fund managers, corporates and institutional investors.
