By Jennete Ugo Anya
The UK Government-backed Manufacturing Africa programme has marked six years of investment facilitation in Nigeria with 23 successful investment deals, mobilising more than $630 million and creating or safeguarding over 21,400 direct jobs.
DEVELOPMENT
British High Commissioner, Pete Vowles, and British Deputy High Commissioner, Jonny Baxter, joined business leaders, investors, government representatives and development partners in Lagos to showcase the programme’s contribution to Nigeria’s investment ecosystem.
The event also launched the Fundraising Toolkit, a free digital resource designed to help Nigerian and African businesses become investor-ready and navigate the fundraising process.
The toolkit combines practical guidance, investor insights, templates and transaction-based tools to help businesses access capital and scale.
DATA
Manufacturing Africa’s six-year experience covers more than 300 investment opportunities and over 70 financial closes across Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania and Senegal.
The programme has drawn insights from more than 23 international investors, including development finance institutions, private equity firms and impact investors.
In Nigeria, 23 businesses have reached financial close with support from the programme, raising close to $630 million.
SIGNIFICANCE
The programme’s results highlight the importance of investment readiness in converting business opportunities into completed transactions.
British Deputy High Commissioner, Jonny Baxter, said that the 23 Nigerian businesses supported by Manufacturing Africa had mobilised more than $630 million and had the potential to create or safeguard over 21,400 direct jobs.
“Together, these transactions have mobilised more than $630 million in investment and have the potential to create or safeguard over 21,400 direct jobs, demonstrating the programme’s contribution to economic growth,” Baxter said.
For businesses seeking capital, the new toolkit provides transaction-based guidance rather than a purely theoretical fundraising framework.
NEXT MOVE
The immediate focus is on how businesses use the toolkit to improve investor readiness, structure fundraising processes and convert potential investment opportunities into financial closes.
The programme’s experience across more than 300 investment opportunities and 70 financial closes provides a substantial transaction base from which businesses can draw practical lessons.
OUR LENS
British High Commissioner, Pete Vowles, linked the initiative to the broader challenge of helping businesses access commercial finance and convert capital into growth.
“It is great to see companies coming together, figuring out how to access commercial finance, so they can then grow their businesses,” Vowles said.
He stated: “I am really interested to hear what they have done, and how they are going to use the new toolkit to continue and promote what they are doing for other companies to grow their businesses because that would be where we get real success.”
Thomas Pascoe, Team Leader, Manufacturing Africa, described the toolkit as a product of more than six years of practical fundraising experience.
“The launch of the Fundraising Toolkit marks an important milestone for Manufacturing Africa,” Pascoe said. “It brings together more than six years of practical fundraising experience, including the tools, insights and lessons that have helped businesses across the continent navigate the fundraising process and secure investment.”
He said that the Nigerian transactions demonstrate “what is possible when businesses have access to the right tools, guidance and connections to capital”.
The deeper signal is that investment mobilisation increasingly depends not only on the availability of capital, but on the capacity of businesses to become investment-ready, navigate investor requirements and convert financing opportunities into completed transactions.
Jennete Ugo Anya is a journalist and researcher with interests across Nigeria’s economy, public policy, business, MSMEs, development and strategic communications, Foreign direct investments, development finance institutions.
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