Brands/Products
natnudO Foods Opens Processing Plant in Edo
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A subsidiary of Amo Farm Sieberer Hatchery Limited, natnudO Foods, has opened a new processing plant in Benin City, the Edo State capital, in a desire to provide sustainable food solutions and drive economic development in the South-South region of the country.
The new facility will support the company’s mission of making affordable animal protein available to every Nigerian.
The firm already operates plants in Akinyele, Ibadan (Oyo State), Uyo (Akwa Ibom State), and Kaduna State.
At the commissioning of the factory on Wednesday, November 6, 2024, the Managing Director of Amo Farm Sieberer Hatchery, Mr Ayoola Oduntan, expressed the organisation’s excitement about the new plant’s potential to drive both economic and social growth in Edo State.
“We are excited to expand our operations into Edo State, a state with tremendous agricultural potential.
“We believe in the power of partnership and community. Our mission is to ensure that protein is accessible to every Nigerian, and by launching the natnuPreneur scheme, we are not only increasing local production but also creating new opportunities for farmers and entrepreneurs across the state,” he enthused.
Also, the Governor of Edo State, Mr Godwin Obaseki, represented by the Commissioner for Communications and Orientation, Mr Chris Nehikhare, commended the initiative for its potential to improve food security, generate employment, and contribute to the state’s economic development.
On his part, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Mr Stephen Idehenre, praised natnudO Foods for its innovative approach to addressing protein scarcity and promoting entrepreneurship.
In another development, natnudO Foods has launched natnuPreneur Scheme with support from Heifer International Nigeria.
The initiative is aimed at empowering farmers and entrepreneurs in Edo State. It will provide farmers and entrepreneurs, especially women, with the knowledge, resources, and support they need to engage in poultry farming and the sale of animal protein products. The scheme consists of two key models: natnuPreneur Farmer and natnuPreneur Seller.
The natnuPreneur Farmer entrepreneurial initiative allows farmers to raise broiler and Noiler chickens under an out-grower model, which will then be bought back and processed at natnudO’s facilities.
Similar to the way the program has been delivered in other states, it aims to enable farmers with the knowledge, resources, and support necessary to succeed in the poultry business, creating wealth and employment opportunities in the local community across Edo State and beyond.
Also, the natnuPreneur Seller model is designed to enable individuals and businesses to establish themselves in the animal protein business.
This model will operate through a Hub and Spoke system, where each Hub will be equipped with solar-powered freezers to store and distribute products to four attached Spokes, which will be provided with push carts and parasols for daily sales.
This model is expected to empower small businesses, improve local distribution, and increase access to affordable protein in Edo State.
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.
