Get Guardian on GoogleChapel Hill Advisory Partners Limited has launched a N7.5 billion gender bond to expand access to long-term financing for women-owned and women-led businesses in Nigeria, marking a new development in the country’s capital market.
The five-year fixed-rate bond, issued by Chapel Hill Financing SPV Plc as Series 2 under its N250 billion Debt Issuance Programme, is Nigeria’s first gender bond specifically designed to channel funds to businesses owned and led by women.
The initiative is expected to address funding challenges facing women entrepreneurs, particularly small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which often struggle to secure long-term capital to expand their operations.
According to the company, the net proceeds from the bond will be deployed through Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria SME Limited, its gender-focused SME impact investment platform, to provide financing to eligible women-owned and women-led businesses.
To qualify for funding, the firm said businesses must meet the platform’s eligibility requirements, the 2X Criteria established by 2X Global and a framework aligned with the International Capital Market Association’s (ICMA) Social Bond Principles.
Chief Executive Officer of the company, Bolaji Balogun, said the bond would provide long-term capital to businesses that play an important role in creating jobs, expanding economic opportunities and supporting growth across the country.
He said women-owned businesses continued to face difficulties accessing longer-term financing, adding that the initiative would help direct capital towards addressing the funding gap.
Balogun expressed appreciation to FSD Africa for its partnership and support in bringing the transaction to fruition.
FSD Africa, a financial sector development organisation funded by the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), served as the sustainable finance adviser to the transaction.
The organisation provided technical support towards the development of the bond structure, which is designed to ensure that funds raised are directed towards eligible women-owned and women-led businesses.
Chief Financial Markets Officer at FSD Africa, Dr Evans Osano, said the issuance demonstrated how investor funds could be deliberately channelled towards women entrepreneurs through the capital market.
He said FSD Africa worked with Chapel Hill to develop a credible structure, independently reviewed, that links every naira raised to financing women-owned and women-led businesses.
Osano expressed the hope that the transaction would provide a model for other issuers seeking to raise funds for gender-focused investments.
