While access to early-stage finance is one of the critical challenges of SMEs in Nigeria, the double challenge of COVID-19 and slow economic growth worsened the situation as it made many enterprises more vulnerable.
Constraints in liquidity and cashflow coupled with increased payment delays resulted in the endemic depletion of the working capital of many SMEs.
TO contribute its quota to SME development, Lagos-based Impact Investors Foundation (IIF) recently organised a Deal Summit which was geared towards helping founders in various aspects such as finance, raising investments, pitches among others.
Funded by the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), the summit brought together key national actors to enable access to finance for start-ups to promote job creation and sustainable economic growth. This year’s event was hosted on a virtual conference platform.
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According to IIF Chairman, Afolabi Oladele, the Summit was geared towards contributing its quota in bridging the financing and economic gap COVID-19 may have created in the Nigerian economy.
“The Elevator Pitch event is part of IIF initiative to boost business start-up in Nigeria,” Oladele said.
The Projects Lead, IIF, Maria Glover, said the objectives of the Annual Deal Summit was to expose over 15 investment-ready enterprises to 18 impact investors and match them during the summit while also accelerating quality deal flows within the impact investing community.
This year’s edition, according to her, featured 15 social enterprise owners who participated in a four-week investment-readiness booster delivered by Acumen, an international development organisation.
“The Acumen training programme was to prepare the enterprises to be both investment and impact ready and to pitch their businesses to investors at the Deal Summit and to support quality investment pipelines for impact investors,” Glover said.
