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The Africa Ecosystem Catalysts Facility, a $4 million pilot investment facility managed by Village Capital with funding from FMO and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), has announced its first investments in Nigeria. It deployed $450,000 in Trade Lenda and AirSmat, bringing its total investments to seven companies across Ghana and Nigeria.
The first investment is in Trade Lenda, a digital financial services platform expanding access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises through digital business loans, embedded finance solutions, and Sharia-compliant financing products. Since its launch, the startup has supported more than 260,000 SMEs and farmers across five of Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.
“The capital has enabled us to accelerate our growth, acquire a higher licence, and attract more competitive funding,” said Adeshina Adewumi, co-founder and CEO at Trade Lenda. “Following the investment, we secured an additional $2 million in local debt facilities at lower rates, allowing us to expand lending while reducing our cost of capital. As we continue to secure more affordable financing, we’re able to pass those savings on to the SMEs and entrepreneurs we serve across Nigeria and Africa.”
The second investment is in AirSmat, a company transforming agricultural waste into biochar-based fertiliser.
“Access to capital structured around the realities of building a climate-tech company has been transformative for AirSmat,” said Soji Sanyaolu, founder and CEO at AirSmat. “The investment will be used to complete and commission our commercial biochar-based fertiliser factory, and scale our commercial operations. It will also strengthen our manufacturing capacity, expand market access, and accelerate the delivery of climate-smart agricultural solutions that improve soil health, increase farmer productivity, and create sustainable livelihoods.”
“What stands out about these startups is how they’re strengthening the systems that businesses and farmers rely on to grow,” said Husein Merchant, investment officer at Village Capital. “Trade Lenda is expanding access to finance for hundreds of thousands of SMEs and farmers, while AirSmat is transforming agricultural waste into productive inputs that strengthen food systems and improve farmer livelihoods. Both companies are deeply rooted in the realities of their markets, and our role is to make sure they have access to the right capital to grow their impact.”
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