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Nigeria is the top destination for investment in Africa with Venture Capital (VC) and Private Equity Firms (PEFs) making Nigeria their priority for Fintech investments in Africa.
According to the Africa Private Equity and Venture Capital Association, the deal volume reported in West Africa was dominated by Nigeria, which was also reflected in Africa’s deal volume with Nigeria receiving the highest deals followed by South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, Senegal, Ghana, and Algeria respectively.
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Fintech according to the AVCA report is by far the largest and most funded sector in Nigeria. The top pan-African Fintech giants are Flutterwave, Paystack, Interswitch and Paga all Nigerian entities.
“I recently attended an investment round-table in the United Arab Emirates hosted by the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC). It was a very interesting event and quite illuminating that a number of the attendees already had investments in Nigeria. These investments are in Agri-Business, Mining, Power, Agriculture, Manufacturing, and Financial Services,” said Ajibola Edwards at Adeniji Kazeem & Co.
The firm is already providing advisory to :some very interesting Fintech Companies as well as a mobility ride-sharing platform that has just launched in Nairobi using electric bikes and is looking at Nigeria as its next destination,” added Edwards whose firm is working to further expand the investment values in Nigeria for offshore businesses with sight on Africa’s largest economy.
“There is a huge opportunity in Nigeria. It’s difficult to ignore and Nigerian investors need to be more bullish and start taking major positions so they do not have to play catch-up.
“We are already in discussions with a major African bank that is well-capitalized and is looking to fund transactions in Nigeria. We are also advising a major Indian equipment manufacturer who produces turnkey equipment for bottling plants, packaging plants, and other fast-moving industries,” said Edwards stressing that Nigeria holds the ace to unlocking new business opportunities on the continent.
According to him, Nigeria is increasingly becoming “one of the most entrepreneurial, innovative, and ingenious economies with sophisticated financial markets, large population of consumers and huge unfilled demand.
Get a snapshot of the opportunities in Nigeria from this presentation by the Acting Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Investment Commission (NIPC).
