EnuguSME, Author at Enugu SME Centre

Why investors flock to Ikoyi, VI despite challenges…

Despite the challenges in the Nigerian real estate market that are deeper in highbrow locations or up-market neighbourhoods, Ikoyi and Victoria Island in Lagos remain attractive destinations for investors.

These two locations, home for luxury real estate, have seen challenges reflected in over-supply interspersed with falling demand and widening vacancy rate, which, as at the end of 2020, was estimated at 40 percent for residential properties.

But returns on investment, especially for small size family housing units like studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments, have been good and encouraging compared to other locations.

Lay-offs, pay-cuts and economic downturn made worse by the crippling impact of COVID-19 pandemic have left consumers with shrinking wallets and low purchasing power, leading to buyers and tenants’ preference of apartment units to duplexes, maissonettes and large luxury homes.

For this reason, multi-family units, specifically apartments, top consideration for most investors in these locations. “Apartments make more economic sense to developers, more so as multiple units can be developed on a piece of land without taking up too much space,” David Mba, former manager, commercial sales at Fine & Country, explains to BusinessDay.

“Returns are higher for smaller apartment units, especially 2-bedroom, which means that demand is more for these house-types than the big-size apartments,” he states.

According to Mba, Ikoyi and Victoria Island are “promising destinations,” but the consideration has to be on smaller-unit apartments. “Any investor wanting to enter the market amid the COVID-19 pandemic should look in that direction,” he advised.

On the average, rental values in Victoria Island as at the end of 2020 stood at N1.5 million per annum for 1-bedroom apartment; N3.5 – N8.5 million for 2-bedroom; N5.5 – N15 million for 3-bedroom and N6 – N25 million for 4-bedroom apartment.

In Ikoyi, it is N4 – N5 million per annum for 1-bedroom; N6.5 million for 2-bedroom; N10 million for 3-bedroom, and N10 – N25 million for 4-bedroom apartment.

Return on investment on these apartments, according to Mbah, is quite significant. In Victoria Island, the return on the different apartment sizes stood at 2.7—3.7 percent per annum for 1-bedroom; 7—10 percent for 2-bedroom; 6.1—10 percent for 3-bedroom; 6.1—9.2 percent for 4-bedroom duplex and 3.75—6 percent for 4-bedroom terrace.

In Ikoyi, it is 9 percent for 1-bedroom; 5.4—8.6 percent for 2-bedroom; 5.3—8 percent for 3-bedroom; 4.5—8.3 percent for 4-bedroom duplex and 4.8—5-4 percent for 4-bedroom terrace.

Though most real estate investors aim for over 10 percent or 12 percent return on their investment, experts say anything above 8 percent is good.

Lekki is another Island location in Lagos where return on investment is good and encouraging. Chiedu Nweke, CEO, Periwinkle Residences Limited, argues that returns in the Lekki corridor is the highest in Lagos, but records show that Ikoyi, particularly, is still ahead.

“This is because whether you are talking about Ikoyi or Victoria Island, the story is the same that these locations remain attractive for reasons other than returns on investment,” Mba says, explaining that talking in terms of strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats (SWOT), which guide investments, opportunities are more here.

PMI: Business Conditions in Nigeria Show Improvement

The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) of Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc has shown that in February 2021, there was another modest expansion in the Nigerian private sector.

In a statement from the lender, it was disclosed that the growth was buoyed by a solid increase in new orders and output as companies continue to expand their purchasing activity and resumed hiring efforts during the month.

The report indicated that signs of spare capacity were again evident, with a fresh record reduction in backlogs registered.

However, unfavourable exchange rate movements, higher material costs and a rise in wages added to strong inflationary pressures with overall input prices increasing at a record pace.

Stanbic IBTC said headline PMI registered at 52.0 in February, up from 50.7 in January, indicative of a stronger improvement in overall business conditions. New order inflows rose sharply, with the pace of growth accelerating during the month.

Readings above 50.0 signal an improvement in business conditions on the previous month, while readings below 50.0 show deterioration.

The improving demand environment supported growth in output which was solid and extended the period of expansion to three months. Despite the continuation of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) restrictions in foreign markets, exports rose during the month, with foreign demand for Nigerian goods and services showing signs of improvement.

To support higher output volumes, companies added to their purchasing activity for the eighth month in succession.

Consequently, firms raised their inventory holdings in anticipation of greater output in the months ahead. Vendor performance also improved, although the degree at which lead times shortened eased to the softest in nine months.

Elsewhere, further signs of spare capacity were signalled, with backlogs falling at the most marked rate in the series.

Nonetheless, firms added to their workforces, with employment rising marginally. The rate of overall input price inflation quickened to the strongest in the series, largely reflecting higher purchase costs.

According to panellists, higher material costs and unfavourable exchange rate movements contributed to a sharp uptick.

However, the stronger demand environment allowed firms to pass on higher prices, with charges rising substantially. Looking ahead, sentiment regarding output over the next 12 months reached a ten-month high as business expansion plans fuelled positive expectations.

That said, the degree of optimism remained below the long-run series average suggesting pandemic uncertainty weighed slightly on hopes for the future.

SOURCE LINK

AfCFTA: SON seeks return to port

The Director General of Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Malam Farouk Salim, has urged the Federal Government to allow the agency return to the nation’s ports. Salim made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja.

He explained that the move would help the organisation to effectively check the influx of substandard products into the country as trading progresses under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The DG’s call is coming after a decade of the eviction of several government agencies from the ports, following what was seen as ‘a proliferation of agencies at the ports.’ NAN recalls that Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the then Minister of Finance and Coordinating Ministers of the Economy, had in 2011 announced the eviction of the agencies. She said the decision was to fast-track port processes at a time the ports were battling congestion, delays in cargo clearing, which were hindering the ease of doing business policy. However, Salim said for Nigeria to effectively curb the influx of substandard goods, especially as trading under the AfCFTA continues, the SON workforce should be allowed to return to the ports. “We are supposed to ensure that the borders and the ports are monitored properly, and in doing this we protect the country from substandard goods. “One of such ways is to make sure that the employees of SON are in the port of entries in the country, especially the Lagos port where majority of goods comes into this country. “Our people can be efficient if we are allowed to work at the point of entry of these goods, but right now we are not allowed at the ports. “They allow us once in a while to check goods but that should not be the way, because SON as an organisation should not depend on the kindness of other organisations to do its work. “The 2015 Act, Section 7(30b) says the Standard organisation must be at the port of entry into this country,” he said. The DG noted that although there were other agencies of government at the ports, SON has the statutory obligation and the knowledge to identify substandard products. He said if SON was given a permanent access for inspection and enforcement of standards at the ports, the menace of substandard goods in Nigerian market would be greatly reduced. He however noted that the organisation was currently enjoying cordial working relationship with the Nigerian Customs Service and other sister agencies at the ports. “What NAFDAC and the Customs are doing at the ports are totally different from what SON does. “We get along with them very well but we don’t need to depend on them because we are supposed to be in the ports by right, except if the law is changed.

“One of the problems we are having for not being officially allowed into the ports is the inability to provide ordinary offices for our employees. “A typical example is in Port Harcourt where our officers are now squatting with various offices, and every now and then the persons they are squatting with have asked them to leave. “We requested for a space to build our office but we were told we will not be allowed, so we could not build a property befitting of our organisation for our staff,” he said. Salim explained that the SON currently has 42 offices across Nigeria, with 1,700 employees. (NAN)

Covid-19: Working Conditions Still Precarious

Covid-19: Despite Easing Lockdown, Working Conditions Of Nigerians Still Precarious-NBS

Despite the easing of Covid-19 lockdown, working conditions of most organisations have remained precarious as they battle the impacts of the covid-19 pandemic.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics report titled, ‘COVID-19 impact monitoring report’ for November/December 2020, business activities in the non-farm enterprise sector suggests people’s working situations remain precarious.

Recall, as at July, 2020, Nigeria had completed the three phases of its gradual easing of the COVID-19 lockdown, with the reopening of airports for local flights.

The report showed that about 17 percent of households who had non-farm businesses during 2020 were not operating their business in December 2020.

It stated, “Of these, 61 per cent (11 per cent of all households with non-farm businesses) had also been closed for at least one month between June and November 2020.

“Moreover, just 23 per cent of households with non-farm businesses in 2020 operated them continuously since the peak of restrictions in April/May.”

It showed that the share of respondents who were working remained around pre-crisis levels in December 2020.

However, it stated that the agricultural sector has proved to be a resilient source of income for most Nigerians, as households involved in farming activities recorded increased income from crop sales in 2020/21 as food prices soar.

There was also an 80 percent increase in the share of households participating in crop-related farm work between the 2019 and 2020 agricultural seasons.

Forced merger of marginal field bidders could derail plans

Nigeria’s Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has begun notifying successful field bidders in the 2020 marginal fields bidding round, but some are concerned that a forced merger of bidders could spell trouble for the process.

According to people close to the process, the regulator’s decision to merge several bidders has joined people with different operational plans, financial resources, and development plans together on a field and the resulting acrimony could scuttle the process.

“These bidders do not know each other, have different plans and programmes and funding strategies, but have all been forced together in a union of strange bedfellows,” a source close to one of the bidders told BusinessDay, pleading anonymity as he does not have the authority to disclose sensitive matters.

When contacted for clarification, DPR’s spokesman, Paul Osu, did not pick several calls made to him over three days nor did he respond to text messages.

Some analysts also expressed concern that it is likely to lead to conflicts and to slow down the government’s plans to get more out of its hydrocarbon resources.

“It would, to my mind, be forcing people with different plans and strategies to do business together,” said Ayodele Oni, energy lawyer, and partner at Lagos-based Bloomfield Law Firm.

However, people often collaborate in the oil and gas sector to execute projects and considering the inability to develop some marginal fields in the past, the DPR hopes this approach will improve the chances of the fields being developed.

The difference between this forced merger and what commonly obtains in the sector is the absence of consent. Partnerships and collaborations are forged with those pursuing similar outcomes based on agreements on how to share resources as well as profits.

The DPR is compelling people who may have different plans, ideas, and resources, and do not know each other to work on a project.

“I haven’t seen the exact terms of such relationships but I am not sure that’s the best approach in light of the experiences from past Marginal Fields bid rounds, where even partners fell out and successful bidders fell out with their technical partners they had strong arrangements with.

“If those could happen then you can imagine a scenario where companies with different strategies, ethos, and outlooks are forced to do business in common,” Oni said.

Dozens of fields awarded in different bid rounds have been undeveloped; this is why oil production from these fields accounts for about 2.14 percent of Nigeria’s total production.

According to a report by African Oil Gas Report, a third award letter that specifies the percentage awarded to the recipient and the signature bonus expected of it by the government has been issued.

The letters were emailed on March 2, 2021, and the authorities expect the signature bonus to be paid in 45 days, and it could be paid in either the local currency naira or in dollars, the magazine said in an editorial.

It further said the total signature bonus per field ranges from $5 million to $20 million, but since no single field is assigned to a single company, the signature bonus demanded from each company correlates with the percentage interest in the field offered to the company. If the entire signature bonus charged to Field A is $5 million, a company assigned 20 percent equity in that field is asked to pay a signature bonus of $1 million.

The DPR is seeking to raise $500 million from the signature bonuses to be awarded for 57 marginal oilfields in the bid round processes for the oilfields, which began in June 2020 and would be concluded by the end of the first quarter of 2021.

Sarki Auwalu, the DPR boss, said the objective of the exercise was to deepen the participation of indigenous companies in the upstream segment of the industry and provide opportunities for technical and financial partnerships for investors.

Out of the over 600 companies that applied for pre-qualification, 161 were successful and shortlisted to advance to the next and final stage of the bid round process, Auwalu said.

The department had decided to join different bidders in a single field to raise the prospects that the fields would not be abandoned. Several marginal fields awarded in the past have been abandoned largely due to the financial and technical incompetence of the bidders.

Auwalu said the $500 million would be different from the monies already generated by the agency through the applications and data leasing by applicants.

Bulk of young Nigerians shut out of N75bn youth investment fund

Bulk of young Nigerians eligible to apply for a loan from a N75-billion Nigeria Youth Investment Fund (NYIF) are stuck on the waiting list in what may scupper the government’s efforts to create badly needed jobs in Africa’s most populous nation.

Since it was set up in October 2020, only 395 youth had benefited from the Fund, which aims to financially empower Nigerian youth to generate at least 500,000 jobs between 2020 and 2023, as at January, according to the government.

In that time, 3 million youths applied for a loan which means only one in every 7,594 youths that applied for the loan was successful.

The number of youths that have applied till January implies that an average of 750,000 people apply every month, which means the number of applicants may have jumped to 4.5 million as at March. If the trend in disbursements is sustained, then only a fraction would have successfully applied.

While the list of beneficiaries has not been published, BusinessDay spoke with one of the applicants, who was frustrated over the delay in accessing the facility.

Amaefule Chinonmso, who is based in Port Harcourt, said he applied for the fund around October or November 2020.

Last month, he got a text message saying he was pre-qualified for the loan but had got no further feedback since then.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show that Nigeria’s unemployment rate as at the second quarter of 2020 stood at 27.1 percent with the youth population accounting for about 64 percent of total unemployed Nigerians.

Channel for disbursement

Out of the over 800 microfinance banks in Nigeria, NIRSAL Microfinance Bank (NMFB) was chosen as the sole eligible participating financial institution for the disbursement of the Fund.

NMFB is a subsidiary of the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL plc), a non-banking financial institution established in 2013 by the CBN with a mandate to facilitate the free flow of affordable finance and investments to the agricultural sector.

Other loans offered by NIRSAL include The Agric, Small Medium Enterprise Scheme (AGSMEIS), Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, and NIRSAL Microfinance Bank Access Target Account, among others.

Who should access the youth fund?

According to the regulatory framework, eligibility criteria for accessing the Fund include, youth within the age bracket of 18-35 years, a youth that has business/enterprises domiciled and operational in Nigeria, has not been convicted of any financial crime in the last 10 years, has a valid Bank Verification Number (BVN), and possesses local government indigene certificate.

The framework stated that applicants currently enjoying NMFB loans, including the Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) and Agribusiness/Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AgSMEIS) loans that remain unpaid are not eligible to apply.

Beneficiaries of other government loan schemes that remain unpaid are also not eligible to participate.

A huge percentage of youth are engaged in the informal sector. Accordingly, the NYIF will facilitate the transition of informal enterprises owned by youth into the formal mainstream economy where they can be supported comprehensively, build a bankable track record, and be accurately captured as active participants in economic development.

In addition, there is a need for the provision of a business plan summary or completed questionnaires as well as an Entrepreneurship Training Certification from the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development (FMYSD) Entrepreneurship Development Institutes (EDIs).

For registered businesses, these are the requirements: Formal business enterprises (youth-owned enterprises), duly registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Business plan Summary or Completed Questionnaire, valid BVNs of Directors, Provision of Tax Identification Number (TIN), and Entrepreneurship Training Certification from FMYSD EDIs.

Amount you can access/collateral

As an individual or non-registered business, you can access up to N250,000, while as a registered business (Business Name / Limited Liability / Cooperative Societies/ Commodities Associations) you can have access up to N3,000,000. The interest rate under the intervention is 5 percent per annum (all-inclusive).

In terms of collateral, there is no collateral required but all assets purchased under the scheme must be registered with the National Collateral Registry (NCR). Also, the Global Standing Instruction (GSI) mandate will be activated to ensure full repayment by loan obligor.

How to access NYIF

First step requires applicants to attend compulsory entrepreneurship training with an approved Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development (FMYSD) EDIs. The second step takes successfully trained prospective applicants to NIRSAL Microfinance Bank (NMFB) portal to apply for the loan.

The third step requires eligible applicants to submit applications successfully on NMFB’s portal. Then, NMFB conducts loan assessment in line with Risk Assessment Criteria and programme guidelines, makes appropriate decisions and forward recommended applications to CBN for final approval.

Finally, the CBN reviews applications and gives final approval for disbursement to NMFB. The NYIF has a maximum tenor of not more than 5 years with a one-year moratorium.

Stock market gains N128bn on renewed buy interest

Investors on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) are beginning to buy into recent dip as earlier envisaged. This move led to the record positive close on Tuesday March 10.

Investors showed remarkable interests in stocks like Champion Breweries (+8.91 percent ), Neimeth (+8.85percent) and Nahco (+6.64percent).

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index (ASI) and Market Capitalisation moved up from 38,686.85 points and N20.241trillion respectively on Tuesday to 38,931.25 points and N20.369trillion.

Stock market gains N128bn on renewed buy interest – Businessday NG

The NSE ASI increased by 0.63percent at the close of trading, while the value of listed stocks decreased by N128billion.

In 4,437 deals investors exchanged 368,216,369 units valued at N4.909billion. UBA, FBN Holdings and GTBank were actively traded stocks on the Bourse.

The market’s year-to-date (YtD) negative returns decreased to -3.33percent, while the record dip this month stood at -2.18percent.

SOURCE LINK

Investors in Nigeria’s equities market became worse off in the trading week ended March 5 after booking about N245billion loss as funds moved out of equities due to impressive yields in the fixed income (FI) market.

Investors are now battling with the decision to either buy into the recent dip or to stay out of the market pending when there are major positives capable of reversing the negative trend.

Investment in Nigeria’s manufacturing sector down 76% on COVID-19

The Nigerian manufacturing sector is still reeling from the effect of COVID-19 as investment inflow into the sector declined by 76 percent in 2020, according to the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN)

In its H2 economic review, MAN revealed that in 2020, manufacturing investments dropped to N118.52 billion representing a 76 percent decline when compared to the N496.11 billion achieved in 2019.

The decline was attributed primarily to the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic which disrupted economic activities globally and locally.

“Manufacturing investment declined in the period following the depressing fallouts from COVID-19 that gave no impetus for new investments in the sector,” the report states

According to MAN, in H1’2020, the sector recorded investment inflow of N62.08 billion, which was a 74 percent decline from the N248.45 billion achieved in H1 2019. In the second half of the year, investments further dipped by 78 percent to N56.44 billion from N257.66 billion realised in the same period of 2019.

The drop in investments also affected the overall performance of the sector, especially as many manufacturing firms were forced to either suspend or shut down operations during the period under review, thereby reducing the number of players in the sector.

“At the moment and following the impact of COVID-19 on productivity, the sector is at the lowest and therefore requires deliberate action to rekindle significant productive activities” the report added.

Emanating from China, the world’s manufacturing powerhouse and Nigeria’s largest trading partner, especially for manufacturing inputs, the COVID-19 pandemic caused an abrupt stop in the supply of raw materials, goods, tools, and machinery for manufacturing companies which forced many of them to suspend business operations.

Furthermore, Brent crude oil which serves as the major provider of the country‘s FX experienced a historic fall during this period, reaching a two-decade low in April at $15.98 a barrel. This drop triggered the prevailing FX shortage and also caused the naira to be greatly devalued thereby impeding the procurement operations of local manufacturers.

Consequently, after two years of consecutive growth, the sector glided to a negative terrain in 2020 with -2.75 percent, which is also the worst experienced since 2016 when the Nigerian economy entered into recession according to the GDP data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The sector’s contribution to GDP as well dropped to 8.99 percent in full-year 2020 as against the 11.64 percent it achieved in 2019.

Furthermore, with Nigeria ranking 131st out of 190 countries surveyed on the 2020 World Bank’s ease of doing business index, business experts assert that due to the recurrent challenges in Nigeria’s business environment and insecurity challenges, investors are forced to take flight for the proverbial greener path, scaring away prospective investors.

Experts, however, believe that investment inflow will improve in the medium to long term following the partial border reopening and the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)

“The reopening of the land borders should provide succor to the manufacturing sector even as the kick-off of AfCFTA serves as an avenue for manufacturers to penetrate new African markets and for investors to flood the market” Jide Babatope, Lagos-based analyst said.

Beyond the decline in investments, manufacturers suffered a decline in the volume of demand for causing an uptick in the inventory of unsold goods. This is also coming amid the surge in production and operations cost.

MAN revealed that the inventory of unsold manufactured goods in the sector increased by 44 percent to N577.61 billion in 2020 from N402.42 billion recorded in 2019.

In H1’2020, inventory of unsold goods stood at N275.39 billion and it increased significantly to N303.22 billion in the second half of the year.

GTBank to challenge Flutterwave, Paystack

On Wednesday, as the fintech ecosystem in Nigeria was busy celebrating Flutterwave $170 million Series C funding raise, GTBank was out hunting for fintech talents.

The bank is shopping for talents for its soon-to-be payment company, Habari Pay. In a vacancy advert BusinessDay found on LinkedIn, GTBank described HabariPay as a young start-up on the path to building a truly pan-African payments unicorn.

“We know we can do it – with a high-impact founding team and the backing from a multinational financial services company,” the bank noted.

Interestingly, Flutterwave’s $170 million raise shoot up its valuation above $1 billion making it the second unicorn fintech company in Africa after Interswitch.

Paystack is also among the startups in the eye-sight of GTBank. The payment gateway was acquired in 2020 by global payment company Stripe in a deal valued at $200 million.

GTBank, Sterling Bank, and Access Bank have all applied for a holding company structure licence and they are expected to take-off at least by the second quarter of 2021.

When approved, the three banks will be joining the likes of UBA, First Bank, and Stanbic IBTC which already operate holding company structures. The difference will be in the individual objectives of the institutions.

Segun Agbaje, CEO of GTBank has never made a secret of the bank’s ambitions for the payment services in Nigeria. Hence, the licence is expected to unlock the tap for big investments in payment services.

For Agbaje there is no limit to how far GTBank is willing to go to secure a prime share of the payment market in Nigeria and Africa. This is likely to include acquiring the top-of-the-class technology equipment to ensure that HabariPay hits the ground running from day 1.

“You will have access to best-in-class engineering tools and resources to enable you to solve truly complex problems and develop game-changing payments solutions for the African market. We prioritise agility, we fail fast, we invest faster and we drive value for customers,” GTBank noted in the vacancy position for Product Owner.

Some experts however say the bank’s ambitions and willingness to deploy enormous resources may not necessarily see it through to unicorn status nor controlling the major share in the payment market in Africa.

One major barrier is Agbaje saying Habari will go it alone which could test GTBank’s ability to deploy quickly and meet high customer expectations doing so. Traditional banks do not have the best record for moving quickly and getting things done as fast customers demand them.

GTBank does not have an impressive record in managing customer expectations. Its bank branches across the country still overflow with customers who often leave with different experiences. But the bank has had a long experience in growing electronic payments.

Flutterwave

Flutterwave Closes USD $170m Funding

Flutterwave, Africa’s leading payments technology company, today announces it has secured USD $170 million from a leading group of international investors as part of a successful Series C round.

The round was led by growth-equity firms Avenir Growth Capital (“Avenir”) and Tiger Global Management LLC (“Tiger Global”) with participation from new and existing investors.

Founded by entrepreneur Olugbenga Agboola in 2016, the company’s valuation is considered to be valued at more than USD $1 billion.

The fundraise brings the total investment in Flutterwave to USD $225 million and is one of only a very small number of African fintech companies to have raised significant funds in a period of widespread disruption and economic uncertainty.

The new funds will allow Flutterwave to execute an ambitious growth strategy to become a leading global payments company, empowering SMEs and multinational brands by connecting the highly fragmented African digital payments landscape. Flutterwave will invest the new capital to accelerate customer acquisition in existing and international markets, as well as develop complementary and innovative products such as the newly launched Flutterwave Mobile, an app to help accelerate ecommerce growth as a result of the success of the Flutterwave Stores.

This fundraise comes at a time when Covid-19 has accelerated the shift to digital payments in Africa, which has contributed to Flutterwave’s exceptional revenue growth of 226% CAGR from 2018-2020.

Olugbenga ‘GB’ Agboola, Founder and CEO of Flutterwave, said: “When Flutterwave was founded in 2016, the payments landscape in Africa was highly fragmented so the goal was to build a pan-African platform that simplified payments for everyone. However our successes would not be possible without (1) Our amazing team of 300+ employees that work tirelessly to achieve our goals (2) The trust and support we have received from our investors and customers and (3) Regulatory bodies like the Central Bank of Nigeria which – under the leadership of the current Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele – has remained at the forefront of the significant efforts that are currently being made by African governments to create the enabling environment for technology, innovation and financial inclusion. This humbling support has created the backbone upon which companies like Flutterwave have been able to thrive.”

As we look to the future, our focus remains the same which is to stand by our 290,000 merchants across Africa every day as they strive to build their mom-and-pop stores into global businesses. We look forward to increasing our investments across the continent and deepening the impact our platform has on lives and livelihoods as we take more businesses in Africa to the World, and at the same time continue to bring more of the World to Africa.”

Jamie Reynolds, Partner at Avenir Growth Capital, commented: “Flutterwave is at the forefront of innovation in payments technology, and we are excited to support the team as they build the last available payments infrastructure frontier in the world – connecting merchants and consumers intra-Africa and globally.”

Scott Shleifer, Partner at Tiger Global Management LLC, added: “We are excited to partner with Flutterwave as they continue building a world-class payments platform. We were impressed by Flutterwave’s focus on customer success and believe the company is well-positioned for sustainable long-term growth.”

This latest funding round was led by Avenir and Tiger Global with participation from DST Global, Early Capital Berrywood, Green Visor Capital, Greycroft Capital, Insight Ventures, PayPal, Salesforce Ventures, Tiger Management, WorldpayFIS, and 9yards Capital. Avenir and Tiger Global have funded some of the brightest tech start-ups in the world including Current, Latch, Savage x Fenty, JD.com and Facebook.

Flutterwave was founded with the mission to create endless possibilities for customers and businesses in Africa and the emerging markets. It enables its customers to build customisable payment applications through its APIs. Flutterwave’s Series C fundraise comes on the back of an impressive run of 4 years in which Flutterwave reached over 290,000 merchants and over 500,000 registered Barter users, launched a range of new products and partnerships and expanded its infrastructure into over 33 countries.

Enugu SME Centre

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