Sahel Capital, a leading investment manager focused on the food and agriculture sectors across sub-Saharan Africa, has successfully closed a USD 1.5 million working capital loan to Rasad Nigeria Limited through its Social Enterprise Fund for Agriculture in Africa (SEFAA). The new facility represents a renewal and scale-up of SEFAA’s earlier financing and will support Rasad’s growing working capital needs across the cocoa value chain.
Rasad Nigeria Limited is a family-led agribusiness based in Ogun State that aggregates high-quality cocoa and cashew from over 1,000 smallholder farmers and aggregators across Nigeria. The company supplies both domestic and international buyers and has built a strong track record in transparent sourcing, reliable execution, and long-term engagement with farming communities.
The facility will enable Rasad to deepen its procurement activities, strengthen relationships with smallholder farmers, and improve liquidity during peak buying seasons, thereby supporting stable incomes for farmers and improved supply consistency for buyers.
“Rasad has demonstrated strong operational discipline and consistent growth since our initial investment,” said Deji Adebusoye, Partner at Sahel Capital. “This increased facility reflects our confidence in the company’s execution capacity and its role in supporting inclusive growth in Nigeria’s agricultural value chains.”
Commenting on the transaction, Ahmed Adeagbo, Director of Strategy & Finance at Rasad Nigeria Limited, said: “Even with the global headwinds in the cocoa market, our business has remained resilient. We are making strong progress on our Rasad 2.0 strategy, including the spin-off of Axias Global, which will focus on export trading, circularity initiatives, and value-added processing of agricultural produce. Over the past five months, we’ve run a series of experiments with very encouraging results, and we are now doubling down on them. It’s an exciting time for us, and we’re glad to have Sahel Capital supporting us on this journey.”
This transaction reinforces SEFAA’s commitment to providing flexible, growth-oriented capital to high-impact agribusinesses and supports Sahel Capital’s broader goal of strengthening food systems, improving rural livelihoods, and enhancing food security across Africa.
Sahel Capital currently manages three funds: the Fund for Agricultural Finance in Nigeria (FAFIN), which invests in agribusiness SMEs in Nigeria; the Social Enterprise Fund for Agriculture in Africa (SEFAA), which primarily provides structured debt to agribusiness SMEs across 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa; and the Sahel Capital Agribusiness Fund II (SCAF II), which provides private equity investments in agribusiness SMEs in West Africa.