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Norfund Strengthens Footprint in Nigeria to Drive Sustainable Economic Growth

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.
News
Trump Threatens More Strikes in Nigeria

President Donald Trump has warned that the United States could carry out further military strikes in Nigeria if Christians continue to be killed, reigniting a sensitive debate over religious violence and foreign intervention in Africa’s most populous nation.

President Donald Trump
Trump made the remarks in an interview with The New York Times, published on Thursday, while responding to questions about a US military strike carried out in Nigeria on Christmas Day.
At the time, the US military said the operation targeted Islamic State militants in north-west Nigeria and was conducted at the request of the Nigerian government.
Nigeria, however, described the operation as a joint counterterrorism effort, stressing that it was aimed at armed groups designated as terrorists and “had nothing to do with a particular religion”.
“I’d love to make it a one-time strike,” Trump was quoted as saying. “But if they continue to kill Christians, it will be a many-time strike.”
Pressed on comments by his own Africa adviser that extremist groups such as Islamic State and Boko Haram have killed more Muslims than Christians in Nigeria, Trump acknowledged that Muslims were also victims but insisted that Christians were being targeted disproportionately.
“I think that Muslims are being killed also in Nigeria. But it’s mostly Christians,” he said.
Trump has repeatedly raised alarms about the safety of Christians in Nigeria, beginning in late October when he warned that Christianity faced what he described as an “existential threat” in the country. He has accused Nigerian authorities of failing to adequately protect Christian communities and has openly threatened US military intervention if the violence continues.
Nigeria has firmly rejected claims of systematic persecution of Christians. The government maintains that the country’s security challenges are complex and largely driven by insurgency, banditry and criminal violence rather than religious targeting.
With a population of more than 230 million people, Nigeria is almost evenly divided between Christians, who are concentrated mainly in the south, and Muslims, who predominate in the north. Islamist insurgencies, particularly Boko Haram and its offshoots, have plagued parts of northern Nigeria for more than a decade, killing thousands and displacing millions.
Nigerian authorities have repeatedly pointed out that militant attacks have claimed the lives of both Muslims and Christians, arguing that framing the violence along religious lines oversimplifies the crisis and risks inflaming tensions.
Following Trump’s earlier threats, the Nigerian government said it was willing to continue cooperating with Washington in combating terrorism but rejected language suggesting that Christians alone were under threat.
The latest comments are likely to strain diplomatic relations further, as Nigeria balances its partnership with the United States against concerns over sovereignty, security cooperation and the portrayal of its internal conflicts on the global stage.
News
OpenAI Launches ChatGPT Health

OpenAI maker of ChatGPT is rolling out a health-focused feature to the generative artificial intelligence (AI) tool that’s used by nearly a billion users.

Named ChatGPT Health, the new feature aims to provide users with health and wellness information. This, as health is one of the most common ways people use ChatGPT, according to OpenAI.
In a blog post, Microsoft-backed OpenAI says de-identified analysis of conversations show that over 230 million people globally ask health and wellness-related questions on ChatGPT every week.
ChatGPT Health will also “securely” connect medical records and wellness apps to ground conversations with a user’s own health information, making responses more relevant and useful.
“Designed in close collaboration with physicians, ChatGPT Health helps people take a more active role in understanding and managing their health and wellness – while supporting, not replacing, care from clinicians.”
According to OpenAI, health information is often scattered across portals, apps, wearables, PDFs, and medical notes making it hard to see the full picture, and people are left to navigate a complex healthcare system on their own.
“ChatGPT Health builds on these so responses are informed by your health information and context. You can now securely connect medical records and wellness apps – like Apple Health, Function, and MyFitnessPal – so ChatGPT can help you understand recent test results, prepare for appointments with your doctor, get advice on how to approach your diet and workout routine, or understand the trade-offs of different insurance options based on your healthcare patterns.”
According to the company, ChatGPT Health is designed to support, not replace, medical care, adding that it is not intended for diagnosis or treatment. “Instead, it helps you navigate everyday questions and understand patterns over time – not just moments of illness – so you can feel more informed and prepared for important medical conversations.
“To keep your health information protected and secure, Health operates as a separate space with enhanced privacy to protect sensitive data. Conversations in Health are not used to train our foundation models. If you start a health-related conversation in ChatGPT, we’ll suggest moving into Health for these additional protections.”
OpenAI adds that access to ChatGPT Health has started with a small group of early users to learn and continue refining the experience, adding that users with ChatGPT Free, Go, Plus, and Pro plans outside of the European Economic Area, Switzerland, and the UK are eligible.
“As we make improvements, we plan to expand access and make Health available to all users on web and iOS in the coming weeks.
“Medical record integrations and some apps are available in the US only, and connecting Apple Health requires iOS.”
News
Kaspersky Shares AI Cybersecurity Predictions for 2026

Kaspersky experts outline how the rapid development of AI is reshaping the cybersecurity landscape in 2026, both for individual users and for businesses. Large language models (LLMs) are influencing defensive capabilities while simultaneously expanding opportunities for threat actors.

Deepfakes are becoming a mainstream technology, and awareness will continue to grow. Companies are increasingly discussing the risks of synthetic content and training employees to reduce the likelihood of falling victim to it. As the volume of deepfakes grows, so does the range of formats in which they appear.
At the same time, awareness is rising not only within organisations but also among regular users: end consumers encounter fake content more often and better understand the nature of such threats. As a result, deepfakes are becoming a stable element of the security agenda, requiring a systematic approach to training and internal policies.
Deepfake quality will improve through better audio and a lowering barrier to entry. The visual quality of deepfakes is already high, while realistic audio remains the main area for future growth.
At the same time, content generation tools are becoming easier to use: even non-experts can now create a mid-quality deepfake in just a few clicks. As a result, the average quality continues to rise, creation becomes accessible to a far broader audience, and these capabilities will inevitably continue to be leveraged by cybercriminals.
Online deepfakes will continue to evolve but remain tools for advanced users. Real-time face and voice swapping technologies are improving, but their setup still requires more advanced technical skills. Wide adoption is unlikely, yet the risks in targeted scenarios will grow: increasing realism and the ability to manipulate video through virtual cameras make such attacks more convincing.
Efforts to develop a reliable system for labelling AI-generated content will continue. There are still no unified criteria for reliably identifying synthetic content, and current labels are easy to bypass or remove, especially when working with open-source models. For this reason, new technical and regulatory initiatives aimed at addressing the problem are likely to emerge.
Open-weight models will approach top closed models in many cybersecurity-related tasks, which create more opportunities for misuse. Closed models still offer stricter control mechanisms and safeguards, limiting abuse.
However, open-source systems are rapidly catching up in functionality and circulate without comparable restrictions. This blurs the difference between proprietary models and open-source models both of which can be used efficiently for undesired or malicious purposes.
The line between legitimate and fraudulent AI-generated content will become increasingly blurred. AI can already produce well-crafted scam emails, convincing visual identities, and high-quality phishing pages.
At the same time, major brands are adopting synthetic materials in advertising, making AI-generated content look familiar and visually “normal.” As a result, distinguishing real from fake will become even more challenging, both for users and for automated detection systems.
AI will become a cross-chain tool in cyberattacks and be used across most stages of the kill chain. Threat actors already employ LLMs to write code, build infrastructure, and automate operational tasks.
Further advances will reinforce this trend: AI will increasingly support multiple stages of an attack, from preparation and communication to assembling malicious components, probing for vulnerabilities and deploying tools. Attackers will also work to hide signs of AI involvement, making such operations harder to analyse.
“While AI tools are being used in cyberattacks, they are also becoming a more common tool in security analysis and influence how SOC teams work. Agent-based systems will be able to continuously scan infrastructure, identify vulnerabilities, and gather contextual information for investigations, reducing the amount of manual routine work.
“As a result, specialists will shift from manually searching for data to making decisions based on already-prepared context. In parallel, security tools will transition to natural-language interfaces, enabling prompts instead of complex technical queries,” adds Vladislav Tushkanov, Research Development Group Manager at Kaspersky.
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