LAGOS, Nigeria — A United Kingdom government-backed investment programme has mobilised more than $630 million and helped create over 21,400 direct jobs in Nigeria through 23 completed investment deals over the past six years.

The figures were announced at an event in Lagos attended by British High Commissioner Pete Vowles, British Deputy High Commissioner Jonny Baxter, and representatives from the business, investment and development sectors.

The programme, Manufacturing Africa, is funded by the UK government and has operated since 2020 across six African markets: Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Senegal. In Nigeria, it has worked with high-potential businesses to strengthen their investor readiness, connect them with capital, and support them through fundraising and deal completion. The approach reflects the UK government's use of development funding to support private-sector growth in African markets, with the employment figures presented as evidence of that contribution.

The Lagos event also marked the launch of the Manufacturing Africa Fundraising Toolkit, a free digital resource designed to help Nigerian and African businesses attract investment, navigate the fundraising process and scale their operations. Because access is free, the toolkit puts resources of this kind within reach of any business preparing to raise capital, not only the firms the programme has supported directly.

"I am delighted to celebrate six years of the UK's Manufacturing Africa programme and recognise the 23 Nigerian businesses it has supported," said Baxter. "Together, these transactions have mobilised more than $630 million in investment and have the potential to create or safeguard over 21,400 direct jobs, demonstrating the programme's contribution to economic growth."

The Fundraising Toolkit draws on more than six years of UK-funded investment facilitation experience across Africa, capturing lessons from more than 300 investment opportunities and over 70 financial closes. It also incorporates insights from more than 23 international investors, including development finance institutions — publicly backed lenders that finance private-sector projects in emerging markets — alongside private equity firms and impact investors, the latter seeking social or environmental returns alongside financial ones.

Built around real transactions, the toolkit provides frameworks, templates and recommendations for businesses raising capital, reflecting how deals in African markets are actually structured, negotiated and closed. Its practical guidance, investor insights, templates and tools are available free of charge to any business seeking to attract capital.

Thomas Pascoe, Team Leader at Manufacturing Africa, described the toolkit as a first-of-its-kind resource on the continent.

"It brings together more than six years of practical fundraising experience, including the tools, insights and lessons that have helped businesses across the continent navigate the fundraising process and secure investment," he said. "Our ambition is to make this practical resource accessible to more businesses, helping them strengthen their investment readiness, engage investors with greater confidence and unlock the capital they need to grow."

British High Commissioner Pete Vowles said the programme had demonstrated what becomes possible when businesses have access to the right support to reach commercial finance.

"I'm really to hear what they have done, and how they are going to use the new toolkit to continue and promote what they are doing for other companies to grow their businesses, because that would be where we get real success," he said.

Nigeria is one of the programme's key markets in Africa. Between 2021 and 2025, the country accounted for more than a quarter of the continent's early-stage investment activity and is home to five of Africa's eight unicorns. Against that backdrop, the toolkit offers Nigerian founders a route to the same investor-preparation support the programme provided its 23 beneficiaries, built from its deal experience across six markets.

The programme's six-year track record underlines the scale of investment it has helped facilitate in Nigeria, while the new toolkit makes its fundraising resources available online at no cost. With the toolkit now live, a key indicator to watch is adoption among businesses beyond the programme's original beneficiaries — the outcome Vowles pointed to when he described it as where "real success" lies.