Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX Group) has known as for a extra built-in strategy to capital formation throughout Africa, connecting companies with applicable sources of financing at each stage of their progress to construct globally aggressive enterprises.
Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NGX Group, Temi Popoola, made the decision on the Financial Times Africa Summit 2026 in London on Wednesday, October 21, throughout a panel session titled ‘Building African Champions – The Investment Case for Scaling SMEs.’
Popoola famous that capital markets have historically targeted on giant, mature firms prepared to checklist, whereas promising companies typically require a number of rounds of financing earlier than they’ll entry public markets.
“Historically, we have taken a sort of a top-down approach to look for big companies ready to go public,” he stated, explaining that companies usually progress from founder funding and help from family and friends to enterprise capital, personal funding and, in the end, public-market financing.
He noticed that the rising availability of personal capital, alongside fewer new listings and a rise in delistings throughout a number of markets, underscores the necessity for a extra linked capital formation ecosystem. Rather than ready for companies to mature earlier than participating with them, capital market establishments should discover methods to help promising enterprises earlier of their improvement.
This requires stronger connections between public markets and the broader funding panorama, together with personal fairness, enterprise capital and institutional traders. Such linkages can assist companies entry financing as they develop whereas creating potential exit alternatives for personal traders by public listings.
Popoola additionally highlighted family-owned enterprises, describing them as “hidden champions” that might make important contributions to African capital markets if supported to scale and entry applicable sources of capital.
He recognized receivables and bill financing as one other approach capital markets can assist ease funding constraints dealing with smaller companies. By enabling firms to leverage invoices, receivables and buy orders linked to bigger company prospects, these financing constructions can assist SMEs unlock working capital and maintain progress.
In Nigeria, the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) Growth Board gives small-cap and growth-oriented firms with a pathway to increase long-term capital by the general public market, supported by extra versatile itemizing necessities.
The Exchange can also be working with establishments such because the Bank of Industry (BoI) to strengthen SME funding readiness by focused engagements, capability constructing and larger consciousness of capital market financing alternatives. These efforts help the event of a stronger pipeline of companies able to accessing public markets as they develop.
Popoola’s remarks underscores the significance of a linked financing ecosystem in enabling promising African companies to transition into established enterprises, entice institutional funding and increase past their home markets.
Achieving this requires collaboration throughout private and non-private capital suppliers, supported by capital markets outfitted to facilitate sustainable enterprise progress and broader financial improvement.
The Financial Times Africa Summit 2026 introduced collectively enterprise and monetary sector leaders to study funding alternatives and the circumstances required to help Africa’s subsequent technology of enterprise champions.
