Sahel Capital announced the first closing of its Fund for Agricultural Finance in Nigeria (FAFIN) which raised $33 million for investment into small and medium agribusiness enterprises (SMEs) across the agricultural value chain in the country. During the course of the coming year Sahel Capital states it will be seeking to raise additional capital to reach their goal of $100 million. Nigeria has significant agricultural resources with 23% of West Africa’s total agricultural land however only 40% of the country’s 21 million hectares (51.9 million acres) of arable land are cultivated. The Nigerian government has targeted $10 billion of investment in agriculture to boost production by 2015 and is encouraging the private sector to partner with producers to increase output. According to Mezuo Nwoneli, managing director of Sahel Capital, the 10 year fund will have an average investment of between $2 million and $5 million that will be disbursed directly in exchange for equity stakes in companies for five to seven years in order to build up the company, possibly bring them public, and then exit.
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