The European Union (EU) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) have mobilised more than €500 million in funding and additional investments to support entrepreneurs, innovation and business growth across sub-Saharan Africa, with Nigeria identified as a major market for the initiative.
EU Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Gautier Mignot, disclosed this at the Boost Africa Impact Forum and media briefing in Abuja on Wednesday.
Mignot said the Boost Africa Initiative had provided more than €100 million in funding and leveraged about €400 million in additional investments to support businesses and innovation across sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria.
He said the initiative was focused not only on investment but also on creating jobs, expanding opportunities for entrepreneurs and improving livelihoods across the continent.
“Today’s event is about more than investment figures. It’s about people, entrepreneurs, innovation, jobs and opportunities created when Africa’s talent is matched with the right partners and the right financing,” Mignot said.
According to him, Boost Africa forms part of the EU’s wider Global Gateway strategy, which seeks to strengthen local value chains, promote sustainable economic growth and attract private-sector investment across Africa.
Mignot said the next phase of the partnership would focus on expanding opportunities available to African entrepreneurs and supporting businesses with the capital and expertise required to grow.
The EIB’s Country Relationship Manager for Nigeria, Moussa Nakoulima, said access to early-stage capital remained a major challenge for African entrepreneurs, particularly businesses seeking to develop and scale innovative products and services.
He explained that traditional financial institutions were often reluctant to finance young companies because of the higher risks associated with early-stage businesses.
“This is precisely where Boost Africa comes in,” Nakoulima said.
Launched in 2016 by the EIB and the African Development Bank, with support from the EU and other partners, Boost Africa primarily works through venture capital funds and financial intermediaries rather than providing direct loans to individual businesses.
Nakoulima said the model combines investment with technical assistance and ecosystem development to help businesses become more sustainable and scalable.
“Boost Africa is a smart combination of capital and capacity,” he said.
He disclosed that the programme had invested about €108 million and attracted an additional €400 million from other investors, with every euro invested through the initiative leveraging roughly three euros from other sources.
Nigeria, he said, remained a critical market for Boost Africa because of its large youthful population and expanding technology and business ecosystem.
However, Nakoulima noted that limited access to reliable early-stage funding continued to constrain many Nigerian entrepreneurs seeking to establish and scale their businesses.
The initiative has supported businesses in sectors including financial technology, healthcare, digital services, renewable energy, logistics and e-commerce.
Nakoulima said the objective was not simply to increase the number of startups but to help build companies capable of expanding across Africa and competing in international markets.
Meanwhile, Investment Director of the Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund, Lavanya Anand, said support from the EIB and Boost Africa had enabled investment funds to provide both financial and technical assistance to growing African businesses.
She said the €110 million venture capital fund, launched in 2019, had invested in 15 companies across sectors including healthcare, financial services, logistics and e-commerce.
Anand said the EIB was one of the fund’s anchor investors, while Boost Africa provided up to €1 million in technical assistance.
She cited GoMyCode, an education technology company providing digital skills training in programming and artificial intelligence, as one of the companies supported by the fund. The company has since expanded into Nigeria with training centres in Lagos and Abuja.
Another portfolio company, OZE, uses technology to improve financial inclusion for small and medium-sized businesses by supporting credit assessment.
Anand said companies in the fund’s portfolio had created 7,600 direct jobs and about 272,000 indirect jobs, while reaching more than 46 million people through improved financial services.
She added that the companies had trained more than 13,000 students and contributed to more than 3,000 lives saved through the services they provide.
The initiative highlights the growing role of venture capital, technical assistance and development finance in helping African entrepreneurs overcome funding constraints and build businesses capable of creating jobs and expanding into new markets.