In a bid to strengthen and improve the eligibility of Nigerian manufacturing companies to raise capital through TLG’s Africa Growth Impact Fund II (AGIF II), Manufacturing Africa (MA), yesterday, signed a strategic partnership agreement with investment firm, TLG Capital.

TLG Capital also confirmed the first close of the TLG AGIF II fund, raising $75 million towards its $200 million target. The fund is anchored by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) and backed by Swedfund, Norfund and Bpifrance.

Through this partnership, MA will fast track investment by supporting Africa Growth Impact Fund II with due diligence, corporate finance, ESG compliance, gender inclusion, supply chain and manufacturing operations support to eligible manufacturing companies targeted for investment by the fund.

In a challenging economic climate, this collaboration is designed to support Nigerian manufacturers in accessing the capital they need to grow, create jobs and drive long term economic growth.

In view of this, the first Nigerian company enlisted for support to raise $7.5 million debt finance under this arrangement is Terra Aqua; an aluminium recycler based in Ogun State. TLG Capital has expressed interest in investing this whole amount in the company subject to meeting environmental, social and governance (ESG) and other operational performance indicators that MA will guide the company through.

The deal is projected to create 200 direct jobs and 752 indirect jobs, utilising a recycling process that requires 95 per cent less energy than producing primary aluminium.

Since 2020, MA has supported 41 deals that are seeking to raise over $1 billion of foreign direct investment and create 38,000 direct jobs across Nigeria. Across Africa as a whole, the programme has raised almost $2.4 billion and created 102,000 new jobs. With the financial close of 13 of these deals, the programme has directly facilitated the inflow of over $150 million of foreign direct investment into Nigeria.

Speaking on this latest partnership, UK Deputy High Commissioner in Lagos, Jonny Baxter, said a strong manufacturing sector is key to driving economic growth and industrialisation in Nigeria and across Africa.

MA programme team lead, Thomas Pascoe, said the landmark investment emphasises the scale of the development opportunity in manufacturing across Africa.