The Oxford Foundry, University of Oxford and FMDQ Private Markets Limited, a subsidiary of FMDQ Group, Africa’s first vertically integrated financial market infrastructure group, have launched a Global Partnership to accelerate the growth of Nigeria’s start-up ecosystem and nurture a future generation of young Nigerian leaders in entrepreneurship, through knowledge exchange and collaboration. The partnership will support Nigeria’s future business leaders and high-growth start-ups to access the networks and skills they need to grow and sustain their businesses, create jobs and inclusive socio-economic growth, and facilitate the growth of Nigeria’s venture ecosystem.

Nigeria has one of the largest numbers of technology start-ups in Africa and has been identified as one of the eleven ‘3G’ countries by Citigroup – countries of large growth potential and profitable investment opportunities.

There are an increasing number of programmes to support Nigerian start-ups, with corresponding high demand, implying that there is huge potential and opportunity to create new partnerships to support high-growth potential businesses, and an increased need to access capital. Currently, over 80% of venture funding comes from an entrepreneur’s personal or family savings.

Through this Partnership between the Oxford Foundry and FMDQ Private Markets, bespoke Programmes have been co-created, leveraging the University of Oxford’s global, multidisciplinary networks and Nigeria’s entrepreneurship ecosystem, to support Nigeria’s future business leaders and high-growth start-ups to access the networks, skills, and investment pathways they need to grow their businesses.

The Programme is focused on three (3) key areas:

Upskill – Facilitation of the training of twenty (20) young Nigerian aspiring entrepreneurs and future leaders through the OXFO-FMDQ Young Entrepreneurs Leadership Programme
Grow – Promotion of knowledge exchange and shared best practices across Oxford’s and Nigeria’s angel investment communities, through roundtables and relationship-building initiatives
Accelerate – Acceleration of five (5) high-potential Nigerian start-ups through a tailor-made OXFO-FMDQ Start-up Bootcamp – Innovate Nigeria Programme, to scale up transformative social and economic impact in Nigeria. The Programme leverages the Oxford Foundry’s unparalleled assets, including networks, partnerships and a venture building and leadership curriculum delivered by some of the world’s leading experts