Chapel Hill Launches Nigeria’s First Gender Bond, Directing ₦7.5 Billion to Women-Owned Businesses

Chapel Hill Advisory Partners Limited has launched the first gender bond in Nigeria, a ₦7.5 billion issue that will finance women-owned and women-led small businesses across the country.

The Series 2 five-year fixed-rate bond was issued by Chapel Hill Financing SPV PLC under its ₦250 billion Debt Issuance Programme, according to a statement on Wednesday.

Women entrepreneurs make a large contribution to Nigeria’s economy, but they have long struggled to get financing that lasts long enough to grow their businesses. Chapel Hill’s Chief Executive Officer Bolaji Balogun said the bond was designed to tackle that problem directly.

“Women-owned businesses create jobs, opportunities and drive growth across Nigeria, yet they find access to longer duration capital hard to find,” Balogun said. “This bond puts long term capital directly behind them.”

The net proceeds will go through Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria SME Limited (SME.NG), the firm’s gender-lens SME impact investment platform. SME.NG will lend to women-owned and women-led SMEs and MSMEs.

FSD Africa, which is funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, acted as sustainable finance adviser on the deal. It used its technical assistance toolkit to help Chapel Hill build the bond’s structure.

“Nigeria’s first gender bond is a milestone for the capital market, showing that investor capital can be directed deliberately to women,” said Evans Osano, chief financial markets officer at FSD Africa. “Through our technical assistance toolkit, FSD Africa has worked with Chapel Hill to build a credible, independently reviewed structure that links every Naira raised to women-led and women-owned businesses. We hope this offer becomes the template for many more issuers.”