By Jennete Ugo Anya
Alitheia Capital is bringing more than 300 high-potential women-led businesses into a structured investor and business-support programme, as it seeks to address persistent gaps in access to capital, markets and technical expertise.
The intervention comes as women-led enterprises continue to face constraints in converting established revenue and customer bases into sustained business growth.
DEVELOPMENT
The gender-smart private equity firm will host the third edition of its W.O.M.A.N. programme in Lagos from September 10-11, targeting businesses in agribusiness and nutrition, food processing, and light manufacturing and packaging.
Alitheia said participating businesses have been screened based on revenue thresholds, formalisation and demonstrated growth potential.
The programme will connect the businesses with investors, lenders, capital allocators and technical specialists, with support covering investment readiness, financial management, governance, capital structuring, energy efficiency and cost reduction.
It will also include an artificial intelligence adoption bootcamp delivered by Google Hustle Academy, alongside speed consultancy sessions that will give entrepreneurs one-on-one access to investors, lenders and advisers.
Managing Partner of Alitheia Capital, Tokunboh Ishmael, said the programme was designed to address structural barriers limiting women’s economic participation and business growth.
“The constraint is not ambition, it is access,” Ishmael said.
NUMBERS
More than 300 businesses are expected to participate in W.O.M.A.N. 2026.
Alitheia Capital has more than $250 million in assets under management, investing in growth-stage small and medium-sized businesses across Africa, with a focus on women-led and gender-diverse enterprises.
Selected businesses will also be onboarded onto Alitheia’s Nzinga platform for 12 months, during which key indicators including capital raised, jobs created and revenue growth will be tracked.
The participating enterprises span three economic segments: agribusiness and value chains, food processing and nutrition, and light manufacturing and packaging.
SIGNIFICANCE
For Nigeria’s real economy, the intervention is significant because it targets the point at which many growing SMEs encounter a financing and capability bottleneck.
Rather than treating access to finance as an isolated problem, Alitheia is combining capital access with investment readiness, governance, financial management, technology adoption and market connections. That matters for businesses seeking to move from survival and informal growth into scalable enterprises capable of attracting institutional capital.
The focus on manufacturing, agribusiness and food processing also places the intervention within sectors central to Nigeria’s diversification and job-creation agenda.
For investors and lenders, the programme could provide a pipeline of more investment-ready women-led businesses, while the 12-month tracking mechanism offers a basis for assessing whether ecosystem interventions translate into measurable commercial outcomes.
NEXT MOVE
The immediate watchpoint is the September 10-11 programme and the businesses that emerge from the investor, lender and advisory engagements.
The more important test will come over the subsequent 12 months, as the Nzinga platform tracks capital raised, employment and revenue growth.
The key question is whether the programme can convert investor access and technical support into actual financing, business expansion and measurable economic activity.
OUR LENS
The deeper issue is not simply whether women-led businesses can access more capital. It is whether Nigeria can build a stronger pipeline of investable SMEs by combining finance with the governance, technology, productivity and market capabilities that institutional capital increasingly demands.
Alitheia’s model therefore shifts the conversation from access to capital alone to capital readiness and measurable business outcomes.
Jennete Ugo Anya is a journalist and researcher with interests across Nigeria’s economy, public policy, business, development and strategic communications.
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