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Norfund Strengthens Footprint in Nigeria to Drive Sustainable Economic Growth

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L-r: Eivind Fjeldstad, Business Counsellor, Royal Norwegian Embassy in Abuja; Obafemi Awobokun, Investment Manager; Ellen Cathrine Rasmussen, Executive Vice-President, Scalable Enterprises; and Naana Winful Fynn, Regional Director for West Africa at Norfund’s stakeholder forum and luncheon in Lagos, Nigeria.
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The Norwegian Investment Fund for developing countries, Norfund, recently organized its first stakeholder event in Nigeria which hosted key players across multiple industries in the private sector to provide an update on its activities in Nigeria and West Africa.

The exclusive forum and luncheon held at Lagos Continental Hotel announced Norfund’s intention to increase investments in Nigeria and the West African region with the aim of driving development through investments in the private sector, and creating jobs.

Owned and funded by the Norwegian government, Norfund is the government’s most important instrument for strengthening the private sector in developing countries, by providing capital through its investments, whilst creating jobs and improving lives.

The fund, which was established by the Norwegian Parliament in 1997, is focused on driving sustainable development with capital in the form of equity, debt and hybrid instruments, and fund investments to businesses and projects with strong developmental impact and commercial returns.

As a responsible investor, Norfund contributes to the achievement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals by investing for both commercial return and development impact and focusing on countries and sectors where capital is scarce and development impact is likely to be strong.

Giving the opening remarks, Eivind Fjeldstad, Business Counsellor, Royal Norwegian Embassy in Abuja, who represented His Excellency Knut Eiliv Lein, the Ambassador of Norway to Nigeria, said, “Set to become the world’s third most populated country, Nigeria is Norway’s most important market on the African continent as we believe that there is a huge opportunity for growth in Nigerian industries.

“We are impressed by the measures taken by the government to strengthen the startup community especially, as underlined by The Startup Act signed by President Muhammadu Buhari in October.

“Moreover, Norway is in the process of updating its African strategy and I’m proud that the Norway-Nigeria relations reflect this with business and investments taking centre stage. We thank Norfund for its role in strengthening Nigerian-Norway relations in the most meaningful way.”

In her remarks, Ellen Cathrine Rasmussen, Executive Vice-President, Scalable Enterprises, Norfund, spoke about Norfund’s mandate to assist in building sustainable businesses and industries.

She said, “At the core of Norfund’s operations is the mission to create jobs, improve lives, and invest in sustainable businesses. Operating within the framework of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which we are a part of, we are able to set our strategy, make investment decisions, and remain agile whilst adapting to market opportunities.

Africa is the most important region for Norfund. A minimum of 50% of investments we commit to are on the continent because it is the market of the future. We not only support the companies we invest in but also nurture the entire ecosystem as its collective strength will enable us to aid Nigeria in sustainable growth.

“Nigeria is of key importance to Norfund due to its strategic geographical placement, young and vibrant population, and its ever-growing economy. Norfund is here to contribute to realizing this growth potential”.

Norfund’s Regional Director for West Africa, Naana Winful Fynn, highlighted, “Norfund looks to add value outside of its provision of investment capital in many ways, including supporting companies to institutionalize by developing on the governance, risk management and systems and processes fronts; by supporting companies in the realization of their strategic plans and by providing businesses with technical assistance”.

The event also included a panel session with the topic “Value Addition in Challenging Markets”. Moderated by Obafemi Awobokun, Investment Manager at Norfund, it featured key speakers including Ebele Enunwa, CEO, Sundry Foods; Abiola Ojo-Osagie, Senior Partner and Managing Director, AfricInvest; Nathaniel Durant, Group Director, OH Ecosystems; Nieros Oyegun Soerensen, Partner, Verod; and Femi Adeyemo, CEO, Arnergy Solar Limited.

With a total investment portfolio of USD 3.1 Billion, Norfund focuses on sub-Saharan Africa alongside South-East Asia and Central America. The fund invests directly in the renewable energy, financial inclusion, green infrastructure, and scalable enterprises (agribusiness and manufacturing) sectors, alongside investments in private equity, venture capital, and other funds.

Beneficiaries of its investments in Nigeria include Sundry Foods, a food services company that provides good-quality meals through its chain of Kilimanjaro restaurants; Arnergy, a Cleantech company offering sustainable solar solutions for productive use in Nigeria; OH Ecosystems which was established to build and operate cocoa processing and confectionery businesses across Africa; and Starsight, a commercial and industrial solar power supplier in Nigeria and Ghana. Furthermore, Norfund has made loans to FCMB Bank and Access Bank (Ghana and Nigeria).

It is also an investor in several funds investing in Nigeria, including funds managed by Verod Capital, AfricInvest, Development Partners International, Helios, Novastar Ventures, European Financing Partners, Inspired Evolution, and responsAbility.

Other investee companies in the region include CBI Ghana, Valency CIV, Nouvelle Mici Embaci (NME), Aktivco and Baobab+. Norfund is also a lender to several banks in the region, including Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), First National Bank Ghana, and CAL Bank.

The stakeholder event further showcases Norfund’s commitment to supporting businesses in the private sector that drive sustainable economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa. Norfund also reaffirmed the strategic importance of Nigeria to its operations, as a result of its large and vibrant population, economic prospects, and vast pool of strong and resilient entrepreneurs.


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FG Unveils AI Public Services Platform

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Federal government has launched GovGuideNigeria, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered digital platform designed to streamline access to public service information through WhatsApp and the web.

The platform consolidates information from more than 35 federal ministries and over 60 government agencies, marking a significant step in Nigeria’s drive to expand AI-enabled public infrastructure and digital government services.

According to Bosun Tijani, Nigeria’s minister of communications, innovation and digital economy, the initiative aims to simplify interactions with government services, particularly for underserved communities that often face challenges navigating complex public-sector systems.

Developed in collaboration with the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Meta, and Publica AI, GovGuideNigeria uses conversational AI to provide real-time responses via WhatsApp and a web interface in English, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba.

Sade Dada, head of public policy at Meta, said the multilingual rollout highlights the growing use of natural language processing within African public institutions to improve digital inclusion and broaden access to services.

Ignatius Willie, chief executive of Publica AI, said the platform demonstrates how Africa’s next generation of digital public infrastructure can be developed locally using African languages.

GovGuideNigeria is intended to address longstanding challenges in Nigeria’s public information system, where citizens often struggle to access reliable guidance because of fragmented government websites, poor communication channels and the expense of travelling to physical offices.

Through AI-driven automation, users can obtain information on immigration procedures, documentation requirements, public programmes and agency-specific services through chat-based interactions.

The launch also reflects Nigeria’s broader ambition to integrate AI into digital governance, while strengthening partnerships between government agencies, global technology companies and local AI startups to modernise public service delivery.


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Elon Musk to Become First World’s Trillionaire with SpaceX Historic IPO

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Elon Musk is poised to become the world’s first trillionaire after  SpaceX, his company, confirmed plans to go public.

Elon Musk to Become First World’s Trillionaire with SpaceX Historic IPO

Elon Musk

Because Musk owns the majority of the shares, it could push his net worth over the trillion dollar mark.

The entrepreneur is known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X, and xAI.

Musk has been the wealthiest person in the world since 2025; as of May 2026, Forbes estimates his net worth to be $788 billion.

SpaceX has filed for a blockbuster public listing in the United States, paving the way for what could become the largest stock market debut in Wall Street history.

The company, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies, announced plans to begin trading under the ticker symbol “SPCX” as early as next month.

The listing values SpaceX at about $1.25 trillion, with Musk’s majority ownership potentially worth more than $600 billion alone.

Combined with his existing holdings in companies including Tesla, the IPO could push Musk’s personal wealth above the $1 trillion mark.

The long-awaited filing also offered investors a rare look into SpaceX’s finances.

The company reported $18.6 billion in revenue last year but recorded a net loss of $4.9 billion. In the first quarter of this year, SpaceX generated $4.7 billion in sales while posting a $4.3 billion net loss.

Financial disclosures showed the company holds $102 billion in assets, including rockets, launch infrastructure and satellite systems, while carrying debts totalling $60.5 billion.

Despite the losses, analysts suggested investors were unlikely to be deterred given SpaceX’s dominance in commercial space launches and satellite internet services.

Ruth Foxe-Blader, managing partner at Citrine Venture Partners, described the planned flotation as “extremely exciting.”

“SpaceX is just an absolutely sprawling, enormous project with so many different selling points, and so many points that really point to the future,” she said.

SpaceX operates the Starlink satellite internet network and also owns Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI.

The IPO filing revealed that xAI recently reached a major commercial agreement with rival AI company Anthropic, maker of the Claude chatbot.

Under the arrangement, Anthropic will reportedly pay $15 billion annually to access data centre infrastructure linked to xAI operations in the American South.

The filing also disclosed that SpaceX expects to incur more than half a billion dollars in legal costs from multiple ongoing lawsuits and regulatory disputes.

Among the cases listed were claims alleging that xAI’s chatbot Grok had been used to create sexualised deepfakes of women and girls, alongside patent infringement disputes, music copyright claims, data breach allegations and investigations into compliance with European Union content moderation rules.

Musk has previously said he plans to dissolve xAI as a standalone company and pursue his AI ambitions directly under SpaceX.

The filing came shortly after Musk lost a high-profile legal battle against OpenAI and its chief executive Sam Altman.

Musk had accused OpenAI of abandoning its non-profit mission after shifting towards a commercial model, but a jury dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that he had waited too long to bring the claims.


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Moniepoint Boosts UK Payments Security

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African financial services platform Moniepoint has partnered with open banking software-as-a-service provider tell.money to deploy a transaction security system in the UK market.

The companies said the partnership will allow Moniepoint to implement Confirmation of Payee, an account name-checking service designed to verify recipient details before payments are processed.

The integration will be rolled out through Monieworld, Moniepoint’s UK remittance subsidiary, as part of the company’s broader European expansion strategy.

Tell.money will provide the underlying verification technology, which the companies said is intended to reduce misdirected payments and help protect users against cross-border fraud.

Ravi Jakhodia, CEO of Monieworld, said: “Our goal with Monieworld is to build financial services for Africans in the diaspora.”

He added that tell.money was selected because it manages compliance and accreditation requirements, allowing the fintech company to focus on customer service.

Moniepoint is entering a competitive UK-to-Africa remittance market that includes established providers such as Wise, WorldRemit and Remitly, as well as African fintech firms including Flutterwave’s Send App.

According to data from the World Bank’s KNOMAD programme, remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries are estimated at about $620 billion annually, with digital -first platforms capturing increasing market share through open banking integrations and automated compliance systems.

The rollout reflects a broader trend of African fintech firms expanding into developed markets by adopting local regulatory and open banking standards.

Industry analysts expect diaspora-focused platforms to evolve beyond money transfers into services such as multi-currency banking, credit and investment products.


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