Tolaram, the Singapore-headquartered consumer goods group with businesses across Africa and Asia, has secured another $51 million in financing for its Nigerian business, this time from Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB), Mauritius's largest commercial lender.

The company took a medium-term loan to partly refinance the $90 million in short-term funding it received from Standard Bank of South Africa to acquire Guinness Nigeria in 2024. Standard Bank later replaced that short-term bridge funding with a term loan in July 2026. The new MCB loan will refinance part of that debt, giving Tolaram more time to repay the money it borrowed for the acquisition.

Background: Tolaram bought Diageo's 58.02% stake in Guinness Nigeria for about $70 million in 2024, taking control of one of Nigeria's biggest beer businesses. It subsequently increased its stake to roughly 71% after buying shares from minority investors. Guinness Nigeria has since returned to profitability, posting ₦41.2 billion ($31.1 million) in profit after tax for the 18 months ended December 2025. The deal was one of the most prominent examples of multinational brewers retreating from African markets, with Diageo following other global consumer groups that have sold down or exited direct control of African operations in recent years.

For Tolaram, the acquisition deepened a Nigerian presence that dates back decades—the group is best known in the country as the company behind Indomie noodles, one of the most widely consumed food brands in Nigeria. That track record is relevant to lenders assessing the Guinness Nigeria financing.

The new loan gives Tolaram additional time to repay part of the acquisition financing instead of relying on shorter-term debt. It also signals that lenders remain willing to back Tolaram's long-term expansion in Nigeria despite the market's currency and financing risks.

There is a further dimension worth noting: Tolaram is headquartered in Singapore, MCB is based in Mauritius, and the asset at the centre of the deal is in Nigeria. The transaction is a small example of how capital is increasingly moving between Asia and Africa through financial hubs such as Mauritius.

Nomba raises $3 million to make Africa–Asia trade easier

Nomba, a Nigerian fintech, has secured $3 million in debt funding from CardinalStone Finance Company to expand its cross-border payments infrastructure in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The facility will give Nomba more US dollar liquidity through its banking relationships in Hong Kong and Singapore, helping businesses collect payments, settle transactions, and pay suppliers in Asia. The debt capital was attractive for Nomba as it seeks to strengthen working capital without giving up equity.

Nomba entered the DRC in 2025 through remittances and physical agents handling money from high-volume corridors such as China and Dubai. It is now using the country as a base for a wider Central and East African expansion, including a DRC-to-Zambia pilot and planned payment links with Uganda, Kenya, and Angola.

Nomba sees an opportunity in real-economy trade. China–DRC trade reached $26.7 billion in 2025, with China importing $21.6 billion from the DRC and exporting $5.1 billion to it. That trade is driven largely by the DRC's role as one of the world's biggest suppliers of cobalt and copper, metals central to battery supply chains. Every shipment becomes a Nomba transaction, and the scale of the trade relationship illustrates why reliable settlement infrastructure is valuable.

Nomba began as Kudi.AI before moving into agency banking and business payments. It now provides merchants with payment terminals, banking tools, and software. By 2023, Nomba said it was a profitable omnichannel provider serving more than 300,000 businesses and processing about $1 billion in monthly transactions. The DRC expansion is its latest move into the infrastructure behind business transactions, helping merchants collect locally and settle payments with suppliers abroad.

Nomba's raise adds to an emerging trend in which growth-stage fintechs are increasingly prioritising debt. In May, Tanzanian remittance fintech NALA raised $50 million in debt funding to expand globally and deepen its stablecoin payments infrastructure. In January, Egyptian consumer credit fintech valU raised $63.6 million from the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) to grow its lending book.

The common thread is that fintechs are using debt for specific growth needs—funding loans, expanding payment infrastructure, or entering new markets—rather than relying entirely on equity. If more fintechs continue down this path, it could signal that borrowing costs are becoming attractive.

Funding Tracker

Nomba, a Nigerian fintech startup, raised $3 million in debt funding from CardinalStone Finance. (Sep 3)

Other deals for the week:

• Seevcash, a Ghanaian-founded fintech startup, secured a $330,000 grant from the Stellar Community Fund. (Aug 28)
• Remi, an Egyptian-founded startup, secured a $135,000 grant from the Stellar Community Fund. (Aug 29)
• ChipMango, a Nigerian-founded deeptech startup, raised $1.9 million in seed funding led by Atlantica Ventures, with participation from DFS Labs, Kaleo Ventures, Madica, Trilinear Technologies, Malta Ventures and other investors. (Sep 1)
• 3C Coding School, an Egyptian edtech startup, raised $3 million in seed funding led by MRG Economic Group, with participation from investor Amr Saad and strategic angel investors. (Sep 2)

M&A activity in Africa's digital economy has doubled within the past year, with 84 deals worth an estimated $11.4 billion in disclosed value recorded so far in 2026.

Elsewhere on TechCabal

• Inside ISWAP's secret AI units in Northern Nigeria
• As Nigeria's capital market surges, Daba and Coronation want global investors in
• Capitec's $33.8 billion business joins A2X as it expands beyond banking
• With Uber gone, Bolt says Nigeria "remains an important market"

Written by Emmanuel Nwosu and Zia Yusuf; edited by Emmanuel Nwosu & Ganiu Oloruntade.

Source: TechCabal