Brands/Products
Chivita, Sugar Control Foundation Partner for Healthy Living
By Dipo Olowookere
A brand of CHI Limited, Chivita, has entered into partnership with the Sugar and Cholesterol Control Foundation (SACCOF) to support a campaign on health and wellness as well as increase public awareness on the nutritional benefits of 100 percent fruit juice.
At the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding in Lagos, President of SACCOF, Mr Ademola Adesoye said the collaboration would boost research into sugar consumption and control. He said the partnership validated the commitment of Chivita to its ‘no-added sugar’ campaign
Mr Adesoye, a food technology expert, pointed out that the commitment was not only necessary for raising the awareness level but also critical to correcting the misconceptions about sugar consumption.
“It is important Nigerians understand that they need sugar to carry out their basic tasks. What is bad is excess intake. And what could be normal for one person may be excessive for another. What determine the volume of sugar you require are your lifestyle and the amount of energy you need to discharge your responsibilities.
“It is important to get the perspective right. The key message is that the simple sugars contained in fruit juices are mostly fructose which are naturally occurring in the intact structure of the respective raw fruits or vegetables, thereby making them very healthy and nutritional.
“Indeed, there have been cases where some people have low sugar level in their system and this is as bad as excess sugar. So, it is satisfying to know that Chivita, the leading juice manufacturing company, is spearheading this campaign,” he said.
According to him, excess sugar intake without complementary active living, are likely causes of diabetes and associated diseases among many Nigerians.
He therefore called for the involvement of relevant stakeholders in the campaign as well as more investment in researches and public sensitization.
The SACCOF boss disclosed that Foundation had carried out extensive research on Chivita 100 percent and that the results were commendable, adding that SACCOF was impressed by the company’s compliance to highest food safety standards, which are above industry regulatory requirements.
Managing Director of Chi Limited, Mr Deepanjay Roy, on his part, said Chivita would, on the strength of the partnership, support the Foundation’s research works and other initiatives aimed at educating Nigerians on healthy living.
Mr Roy said that the company and SACCOF had shared values in boosting the quality of life, through enlightenment and support for consumer’s health and wellness.
“As a sustained initiative, we hope to support independent efforts by experts such as nutritionists and dieticians to show how fruit juice contributes to the health and well-being of consumers.
“We will also create a sustainable discourse on the truth and science of 100 percent fruit juice and the No-added Sugar proposition,” he said.
Driven by a passion and commitment to excellence, CHI Limited is one of the most admired companies in Nigeria’s food and beverage industry. While it prides itself in offering products that are themselves benchmarks in their respective categories of juice, dairy-based beverages and snacks, each of CHI offering is admired for its highest quality, nutrition and health standards.
Today, CHI Limited is the undisputed market leader in juice, fruit drinks and yogurts in Nigeria. The company attained this status by consistently delivering innovative products that have become household names in Nigeria.
In the fruit juice category, mega brands like CHIVITA 100%, CHIVITA Active, CHI Exotic, Happy Hour by CHIVITA, CHI Ice Tea and Capri-Sonne occupy leading positions in their respective segments.
CHI Limited also takes great pride in its range of dairy products, such as Hollandia Yoghurt, Hollandia Evaporated Milk, Hollandia UHT Milk, Hollandia Malt and Milk to name a few and its range of snack foods like CHI Superbite Premium Beef Sausage Roll, Beefie Beef Roll, Beefie Meatpie and CHI Classic Cake.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
An institutional investor, First Ally Capital, has strengthened a leading Nigerian financial technology company, Mathesis Analytics, to scale its proprietary credit decisioning infrastructure.
It made this possible by injecting fresh capital into the firm, which specialises in AI-powered credit decisioning infrastructure, an action that will directly support the growth and scaling of Mathesis’ core mission of providing the intelligence and infrastructure needed to bridge the credit gap for millions of unscored or underscored individuals across Nigeria.
With this investment, Mathesis will enable financial institutions to confidently assess and extend credit to borrowers who lack a formal credit history by leveraging an expanded pool of alternative behavioural and transactional data.
To date, Mathesis’ systems have supported more than 8 million loans for over 2 million unique borrowers in Nigeria, and the company is actively deploying its infrastructure to establish a growing pan-African footprint.
With the investment from First Ally Capital, Mathesis is well positioned to transform how the credit ecosystem operates, driving financial inclusion in partnership with lenders across the continent.
A significant barrier to credit access in Nigeria, which prides itself on being Africa’s largest economy, is data fragmentation. Borrowers frequently build positive financial behaviours across multiple digital platforms by repaying microfinance loans, saving through fintech wallets, or servicing Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) facilities.
However, under traditional credit infrastructure, these achievements remain invisible to new lenders.
Mathesis addresses this challenge through the concept of Personal Equity—the quantified expression of an individual’s financial behaviour aggregated across every institution with which they have transacted.
By translating these disparate signals into a precise, portable measure of creditworthiness, Mathesis creates a comprehensive credit identity that reflects the full breadth of a person’s financial life.
“True financial inclusion cannot be achieved in a vacuum; it requires structural collaboration in which lenders and fintech companies work as partners within the ecosystem.
“This investment from First Ally Capital validates our approach to reshaping credit infrastructure. By quantifying Personal Equity, we empower lenders to safely look beyond the constraints of formal credit histories and recognise a borrower’s true creditworthiness. This capital enables us to accelerate our pan-African expansion while maintaining the robust, institutional-grade infrastructure our partners rely on,” the chief executive of Mathesis Analytics, Winston Osuchukwu, stated.
On his part, the chief executive of First Ally Capital, Mr Ebenezer Olufowose, said, “At First Ally Capital, we pride ourselves on being a one-stop destination for financial solutions, offering a diverse portfolio of services ranging from investment banking and asset management to trusteeship, inclusive banking, and real estate.
“Our investment in Mathesis Analytics reflects our strong belief in the company’s vision and our commitment to supporting forward-thinking enterprises that deliver excellence.”
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The chief executive of Canal+ Africa, Mr David Mignot, has disclosed that MultiChoice is now fully integrated into the media group.
Mr Mignot disclosed this via a statement issued on Thursday, noting that this development marks a new phase in the evolution of one of Africa’s leading pay television operators.
He noted that the integration positions MultiChoice within a global media organisation with an extensive international footprint.
“MultiChoice is now a full subsidiary of a truly international media group operating in 70 countries. The group was founded in France, is listed in London and Johannesburg, and has a strong African presence with operations in more than 45 countries,” Mr Mignot said.
The statement underscores the scale of the combined business, highlighting Canal+’s global reach alongside its significant investments across Africa.
The completion of the transaction is expected to strengthen MultiChoice’s position in the African media and entertainment market by giving it access to the broader resources, expertise and international capabilities of the Canal+ Group, while reinforcing the group’s commitment to the continent.
MultiChoice operates across sub-Saharan Africa through platforms including DStv and GOtv, serving millions of subscribers with entertainment, sports and news content.
By Adedapo Adesanya
FoodCourt, a Nigerian cloud kitchen startup backed by Y Combinator, has suspended operations after months of unpaid salaries and mounting debts to vendors triggered a staff strike and forced the company to halt customer orders, according to a report by TechCabal.
The publication reported that customers first noticed on March 4 that they could no longer place orders through the FoodCourt app after the company disabled ordering as kitchen workers, delivery personnel and branch staff embarked on strike over unpaid wages. The company also owed outstanding payments to vendors.
By April 19, FoodCourt had temporarily shut its last operating branch after suspending activities across its Lagos and Abuja locations while seeking fresh funding and restructuring the business, according to the report.
The company’s chief executive, Mr Henry Nneji, said the decision to pause operations was not caused by a single issue but by a combination of operational, organisational and working-capital challenges.
“It’s important to clarify that the decision to pause operations wasn’t driven by one single issue. We reached a point where it became clear that continuing to patch those issues while operating wasn’t the right long-term decision,” he said.
“The objective is to build a stronger business than the one that existed before the suspension. We fully intend to bring FoodCourt back,” he added in an emailed response.
The company acknowledged outstanding obligations to employees, vendors, riders and service providers, but declined to disclose the number of affected workers or the total amount owed. It said efforts were underway to resolve the liabilities as part of its restructuring process.
It was also reported that the startup’s financial difficulties worsened after expansion into additional locations increased operating costs, while its cloud kitchen model came under pressure from rising labour, logistics, food and marketing expenses.
Despite the shutdown, Mr Nneji said FoodCourt intends to relaunch after completing its restructuring, adding that the company believes demand for its products remains strong.
Founded in 2021 by Henry Nneji and Paul Adokiye Iruene, FoodCourt operates cloud kitchens under multiple virtual restaurant brands through its consumer app. According to TechCabal, the startup had previously disclosed raising $1.7 million, delivering more than one million meals and reaching $4.3 million in annual recurring revenue by the end of 2024.
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