Women-led startups to get more loans, investment in capital inflow 

Women-led startups are expected to gain more loans and investment as impact-driven investors are now infusing capital at a critical time for women entrepreneurs across the continent.

The financing gap for women-led businesses has long been cited as a major barrier to economic inclusion, as the demand for capital among women-owned SMEs in Nigeria and beyond has often gone unmet.

Nigeria’s female-led startups are gaining increased backing from impact-driven investors, with new data showing that gender-lens investing is becoming a stronger feature of the country’s private capital landscape.

The Nigerian Impact Investment Landscape (2025) report has highlighted a growing pool of domestic fund managers, including Aruwa Capital, Alitheia IDF, Verod, and Sahel Capital, who are driving more intentional support for women-led enterprises.

Also, in a significant new boost for women-led startups across Africa, Five35 Ventures, a pan-African, female-focused venture capital fund, has secured a major anchor investment from the Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund (MFAGF), managed by MEDA.

Read also: Top investors step up funding for female-led startups as Nigeria’s gender-lens investment market expands

This infusion of capital comes at a critical time for women entrepreneurs across the continent, helping close a long-standing funding gap between early-stage ventures and scale-up rounds.

The new financing will enable Five35 to expand its reach across East, West, and Southern Africa, deepen collaborations with accelerators and ecosystem partners, and amplify support for female founders.

For female startup entrepreneurs, this implies more access to startup capital as Five35’s model is offering early-stage investments (up to $500,000) and Series A funding (up to $2 million), which will now be underpinned by stronger financial backing, increasing the pool of investable funds for women-led ventures.

Beyond investment, the fund will provide holistic support as it offers access to a global advisory network, institutional-investor introductions, and capacity-building. This kind of support often makes the difference between failure and growth for many early-stage startups.

Since Five35 invests across fintech, healthcare, agriculture, climate innovation, and more, the capital flow doesn’t just support ‘women-only’ businesses but also empowers ventures that can address broad societal needs while being led or influenced by women.

Women-led businesses have historically lacked access to finance, but other initiatives are shifting that by expanding female lending and funding. Some of these initiatives are Bank of Industry (BOI)’s special launch of the ‘GLOW’ fund worth N10 billion to support female entrepreneurs with low-interest financing, mentorship, and capacity building.

Through its FSDH Merchant Bank, the banking sector has disbursed millions in long-term and collateral-free loans to women-led businesses under its ‘Women in Business Initiative (WIBI)’, combining funding with training, accelerator programs, and coaching.

Across the African continent, support programmes such as the Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (AWIEF), in partnership with financial institutions and guarantee funds like the African Guarantee Fund (AGF), are actively working to open access to finance and markets for women-led SMEs.

By channelling more funds into women-led ventures and by pairing capital with mentorship and capacity-building, these initiatives are helping to turn financial support from a scarcity into a growing ecosystem.

Read also: Ten venture capital firms powering Nigeria’s tech startups

Here are funding, loan programs for Female Entrepreneurs in Nigeria:

This offers up to N50 million for SMEs, while for micro-enterprises, up to N10 million. Women-owned or women-led businesses can apply through BOI (or BOI state offices).

The Women Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (WCCIMA) partnered with BOI to launch the N10 billion ‘Project Guaranteed Loans for Women’ (GLOW) fund to support female entrepreneurs in Nigeria.

They offer loans up to N5 million at a single-digit interest rate (6 percent per annum), with a 1-year repayment plan.

This is for Women-led/women-owned registered businesses in sectors like fashion, beauty, creative industries, trade/retail, export/agro-processing, manufacturing, and so on.

The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) Entrepreneurship Programme does not offer loans but provides successful applicants, including women entrepreneurs, with non-refundable seed capital of $5,000, which is a grant, not a loan or equity investment.

The MSME Africa SHE Blooms Grant 2025 was a funding initiative for women entrepreneurs in Nigeria, offering N200,000 grants, mentorship, and visibility to early-stage, women-led businesses or those with strong launch ideas, with applications closing around November 20, 2025, to foster innovation and financial independence.

This grant, supported by MSME Africa, aims to tackle funding gaps for female founders and promote economic empowerment in Nigeria.

Read also: Nigeria risks gendered recession as women shut out of fast-growing tech, AI sectors

The Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) offers several programs for women entrepreneurs, including a specific ‘W-Initiative’ loan scheme and opportunities for grants. These initiatives aim to bridge the finance gap for women-owned businesses in Lagos State.

LSETF W-Initiative (Loan Scheme) is a low-interest loan program with a competitive interest rate (around 10 percent per annum) and a maximum tenor of 24 months. The funding can range from N50,000 to N5 million, depending on the business size and operational history (start-up, micro, or SME).

LSETF partnered with financial institutions like Access Bank for the W-Initiative and First Bank for the FirstGem Fund to provide affordable financing options for women-led businesses.

Folake Balogun is a renowned tech journalist who offers insightful and critical analysis of the African rapidly growing digital economy, particularly within Nigeria. She closely monitors the health of the African startup ecosystem by covering significant venture capital trends, investment deals, and the challenges faced by emerging firms. Known for her deep dives into the fintech sector, she covers the evolution of digital payments, dynamics of major financial innovations and also extends to emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the future of connectivity by providing context to their economic and social impact.

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