Economy
SME.NG, Two Others to Get Visa’s Grant Funding from AWIF
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Three women fund managers from Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa have been selected to receive Visa’s grant funding from the African Women Impact Fund Initiative (AWIF), a collaboration between Standard Bank and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).
Last year, Visa announced a grant to the AWIF as an extension of the She’s Next program, a global advocacy program for women-owned businesses that have been expanded to Sub-Saharan Africa to further champion and strengthen African women business owners as they build, sustain, and advance their businesses.
The beneficiaries for this year are SME.NG from Nigeria, Altree Capital from Kenya and Maia Capital from South Africa.
They are expected to use the grants for their warehousing capital needs to invest in women-owned entrepreneurs across a range of sectors.
The selection of the grant recipients was through a due diligence process managed by the appointed investment manager of the AWIF Initiative, Riscura.
The rigorous selection criteria were in alignment with the objectives of Visa’s She’s Next programme and AWIF, which are to help women-owned businesses thrive and to support and develop women fund managers, respectively.
The co-founder of SME.NG, Thelma Ekiyor, stated that her investment platform is driven by a gender lens investment philosophy focussing on the bottom of the pyramid.
On her part, the chief executive of Altree Capital Kenya, Jenni Chamberlain, said her firm invests with a gender-lens and climate-smart approach in sub-Saharan Africa, with a strong East African presence.
As for the Managing Partner of Maia Capital, Dinao Lerutla, the organisation is the nexus between private capital and inclusive growth.
“We are proud to extend our efforts to empower women entrepreneurs to the fund management space. Women fund managers in Africa continue to face numerous challenges in building sustainable businesses.
“Their progress continues to be slow due to systematic barriers and investor bias. Our collaboration with AWIF will accelerate the multiplier effect of funding across the entire value chain where women-owned businesses exist,” the Senior Vice President & Head of Sub-Saharan Africa at Visa, Aida Diarra, said.
Women fund managers in Africa continue to face numerous challenges in building sustainable businesses. Research shows slow-moving progress in the visibility and inclusion of women fund managers due to systematic barriers and investor bias.
With African women accounting for just 7.6 per cent of private equity and women-led businesses receiving only 7 per cent of Private Equity (PE) and Venture Capital (VC) in emerging markets, this highlights the opportunities that exist to reduce the current gender gaps.
“When you invest in women, you also invest in their communities. Investments that go into the hands of women fund managers not only go towards the growth and sustainability of the companies they invest in, but the women who are part of the value chain of these companies.
“We are proud to have selected managers who have demonstrated their ability to support the growth and development of their communities, and through the grant, these managers will now be in a better position to scale up their efforts and impact the lives of many more women-led businesses,” the Global Markets Head of Strategic Partnership at Standard Bank Group, Lindeka Dzedze, commented.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
One of the paint makers in Nigeria, Premier Paints Plc, is currently in talks with a new investor, Xenergi Limited, for the purchase of 51 per cent stake in the company.
Xenergi Limited intends to acquire shares of Clover Global Resources Limited and TGHL Capital Limited in the organisation.
Business Post gathered that the new investor will buy 39.02 per cent from Clover Global Resources Limited and 15.20 per cent from TGHL Capital Limited.
The deal, according to a regulatory notice issued on Tuesday on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited, will involve about 63 million shares of Premier Paints.
At the current share price of the paint producer, this should be about N630 million as it closed at N10.00 per unit on NGX on December 16, 2025.
“Subject to obtaining required regulatory approvals, the transaction is expected to close before January 31, 2026.
“The company will continue to inform the public of the progress of the transaction,” the disclosure signed by the company secretary, Alozie Nwokoro, said.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira was flat against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Tuesday, December 16, retaining the previous closing value of N1,451.82/$1.
In the same vein, the local currency saw no movement against the Pound Sterling and the Euro in the spot market during the session at N1,943.98/£1 and N1,705.74/€1, respectively.
Also, the Nigerian Naira remained unchanged in the black market yesterday at N1,475/$1 and was N1,460/$1 at the GTBank forex counter.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has strengthened US Dollar supply with $250 million to authorised dealer banks at the official window cumulatively as foreign portfolio investors, exporters and non-bank corporate supply dripped.
The spread between official and other non-regulated markets decreased to N30.59$/1 from N44.57/$1, from the previous week, research subsidiary of Coronation Merchant Bank Limited said in a report.
FX analysts said foreign exchange inflows through the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market decreased to $716.3 million from $844.70 million in the previous week , a 15 per cent drop in a week.
Foreign portfolio investors accounted for the highest share of inflows at 32.98 per cent, followed by exporters at 30.84 per cent, the CBN (17.36 per cent), Non-bank Corporates (16.94 per cent), others (0.72 per cent) and Individuals (0.63 per cent).
On Monday, Nigeria’s headline inflation rate eased to 14.45 per cent in November 2025, down from 16.05 per cent recorded in October, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), representing a decrease of 1.6 percentage points month-on-month and marks a significant moderation compared to the same period last year.
As for the cryptocurrency market, there was some recoveries after overall capitalization falling below $3 trillion for the third time in a month. Large-cap assets, particularly those with Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) exposure, are experiencing selling pressure as institutional investors reassess risk.
Ripple (XRP) appreciated by 1.5 per cent to $1.92, Litecoin (LTC) expanded by 1.5 per cent to $78.91, Dogecoin (DOGE) rose by 0.8 per cent to $0.1308, Solana (SOL) went up by 0.4 per cent to $127.60, Binance Coin (BNB) grew by 0.3 per cent to $865.40, and Bitcoin (BTC) gained 0.2 per cent to sell at $86,735.17.
On the flip side, Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 1.0 per cent to $0.3802 and Ethereum (ETH) slumped by 0.4 per cent to $2,935.85, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) were flat at $1.00 each.
By Dipo Olowookere
A marginal 0.01 per cent rise was recorded by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Tuesday. This was different from the flattish mode of the market the previous day.
Investor sentiment remained bullish as Customs Street finished with 31 price gainers and 26 price losers, implying a positive market breadth index.
Aluminium Extrusion topped the gainers’ log after it improved its price by 10.00 per cent to N9.35, Guinness Nigeria appreciated by 9.98 per cent to N263.40, Multiverse expanded by 9.95 per cent to N12.15, MeCure Industries also soared by 9.95 per cent to N45.85, and Sovereign Trust Insurance advanced by 9.89 per cent to N4.11.
Conversely, Haldane McCall led the losers’ chart after it shed 9.93 per cent to settle at N3.72, Veritas Kapital lost 9.09 per cent to close at N1.60, LivingTrust Mortgage Bank also declined by 9.09 per cent to N3.50, and Linkage Assurance depreciated by 5.71 per cent to N1.65.
During the trading day, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 21.23 points to 149,459.11 points from the previous day’s 149,437.88 points and the market capitalisation increased by N14 billion to N95.281 trillion from N95.267 trillion.
Yesterday, traders transacted 1.0 billion equities for N21.8 billion in 23,701 deals compared with the 553.1 million equities valued at N13.3 billion traded in 28,907 deals on Monday, representing a decline in the number of deals by 18.01 per cent, and a surge in the trading volume and value by 80.80 per cent and 63.91 per cent apiece.
Access Holdings traded 385.8 million stocks worth N7.7 billion, Champion Breweries transacted 111.8 million shares valued at N817.8 million, Sterling Holdings exchanged 85.5 million equities for N589.9 million, FCMB sold 74.7 million shares valued at N791.5 million, and First Holdco transacted 51.9 million equities worth N1.8 billion.
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