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Releaf Secures $4.2m In seed Funding, Grants To Drive Food Processing In Africa

Releaf

Releaf secures $4.2m in seed funding, grants to drive food processing in Africa

Releaf, an agtech start-up that develops proprietary hardware and software solutions that makes African farmers and food factories more efficient and profitable, has raised $2.7 million seed funding in a round led by Samurai Incubate Africa, Future Africa and Consonance Investment Managers with participation from Stephen Pagliuca, Chairman of Bain Capital and Justin Kan (Twitch). Releaf also secured $1.5 million in grants from The Challenge Fund for Youth Employment (CFYE) and USAID.

The seed funding will enable the development of industrial food processing technology in Nigeria’s smallholder-driven Oil Palm sector while the grant will enable Releaf to provide working capital and other value-added services for smallholders and small-scale processors. Grant funding will support the training, recruitment and retention of more women and youth in Nigeria Oil Palm sector through the creation of both digital and technical jobs.

Nigeria’s oil palm industry is dominated by smallholder farmers, with 80 percent of local market share. However, production rates are low because many still rely on ineffective processes for de-shelling, including the use of rocks and inappropriate hardware. These ineffective processes also lead to low quality palm kernels which are largely unfit as input for high quality vegetable oil manufacturing. As a result, food factories are unable to purchase these raw materials and operate significantly under capacity. On average, food factories have 3X more installed capacity than utilization, which impacts the cost of food and hampers further investment into processing capacity.

Releaf acts as a bridge between smallholder farmers and food manufacturing companies with its proprietary patent-pending machinery, Kraken. Kraken can process any quality of palm nut into premium quality (95 percent purity) inputs for food factories. Releaf’s software connects the start-up to more than 2,000 smallholder farmers, ensuring consistent, large-scale supply. While palm kernel oil production is not foreign to Nigeria, Releaf’s technology and scale means it can process 500 tonnes of palm nuts per week. The software offerings also allow the start-up to receive inbound supply requests from farmers via USSD, provide working capital financing as well as collect proprietary data on supply availability.

Speaking about the new funding, Ikenna Nzewi, CEO and co-founder of Releaf, said, “our mandate is to industrialize Africa’s food processing industry. This round of funding enables us to develop and prove our technology with smallholder farmers in the oil palm sector. Given Nigerians spend ~60 percent of their income on food and Africa’s population is set to increase by 100,000 people per day over the next three decades, we’re presented with an incredible opportunity to feed more people, reduce consumer costs, and supply the fastest-growing food market in the world. Releaf is committed to harnessing technology to accelerate the economic wealth of rural, agrarian societies throughout the Continent. We firmly believe that a robust real economy is the foundation for long-lasting and shared prosperity for Africans and are excited to deepen partnerships with like-minded organizations, governments, and firms.”

This new funding will enable better productivity and accelerate the eradication of the menial and archaic processes that are prevalent across Nigeria’s oil palm sector and the agriculture sector as a whole. It will also enable Releaf to drive more value and profitability across the oil palm value chain, as well as support direct and ancillary job creation in the farming communities of South and Eastern Nigeria.

Rena Yoneyama, Managing Partner at Samurai Incubate Africa who led the round commented, “Releaf’s novel approach to operating within the value chain with proprietary technology set it aside from many agtech startups we have spoken to. We believe the firm’s thesis on decentralizing food processing would have a strong match with Africa’s economic development landscape for the next few decades. Ikenna and Uzo are the perfect founders to disrupt this market in Nigeria and beyond. We are thrilled to back them as they innovate in providing both agro-processing and financial services to rural communities and farmers.”

Iyin Aboyeji, General Partner at Future.Africa noted, “more than 50% of the goods in supermarkets globally contain glycerine – an extract made from palm oil – a cash crop that is passed down from generation to generation. The team at Releaf is building the agro-allied industry of the future from the ground up starting with palm oil which they have developed novel technology to aggregate, deshell and process into critical ingredients like vegetable oil and glycerine. Future Africa is delighted to back Releaf to build the future of modern agriculture”

Dr. Nneka Enwonwu, Country Relationship Manager, from The Challenge Fund for Youth Employment (CFYE) said, “We are thrilled to partner with Releaf on their mission to improve efficiency and profitability for farmers and food factories in Africa. The founders’ vision and the team’s enthusiasm gave us confidence that Releaf will deliver real value for rural communities and create digital/technical jobs for women and youth. We are looking forward to their results and success over the coming years and continuing to support their work.”

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NCAA sanctions Kenya Airways over passenger complaints

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The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has sanctioned Kenya Airways for several consumer-related violations involving three passengers, including one Gloria Omisore.

This is contained in a statement on Friday by Michael Achimugu, Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection.

Achimugu stated the NCAA issued a sanction letter on Wednesday to Kenya Airways regarding the passengers’ complaints

“The infractions include failure to provide care, lack of transparency in carriage terms, poor communication with the Authority, and mishandling refunds and baggage.

“In accordance with the NCAA Regulations 2023, Kenya Airways must pay fines and compensate each affected passenger with 1,000 special drawing rights.

“The airline has seven days to comply. Failure to do so will result in more severe penalties,” Achimugu said

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Nigeria repays $3.4 billion COVID-19 funding – IMF

Nigeria has repaid $3.4 billion in emergency funding it received from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help the country cope with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic five years ago, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Thursday.

IMF resident representative to Nigeria Christian Ebeke said in a statement that, as of April 30, the country had “fully repaid the financial support” it received under the Fund’s Rapid Financing Instrument, a facility that provides urgent balance of payments funding to member nations.

“Nigeria is expected to honour some additional payments in the form of Special Drawing Rights charges of about US$30 million annually,” Ebeke added.

The most recent data from the Debt Management Office shows that Nigeria last year spent $4.66 billion to service its foreign debt, of which $1.63 billion was to the IMF. (PL/REUTERS)

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IMPI rejects IMF, World Bank’s 3% economic growth forecast for Nigeria

The Independent Media and Policy Initiative (IMPI) has questioned the rationale by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for downgrading its economic growth projection for Nigeria in 2025 from 3.2 percent to 3.0 percent on the back of the global oil slump.

This according to the think tank is because the Nigerian economy has not, of late, been solely about oil especially with the substantial growth in the country’s non-oil export year-on-year as a result of ongoing economic diversification and the impact of government policies.

In a policy statement signed by its Chairman Dr Omoniyi Akinsiju, IMPI argued that it was more favourably disposed to the 7 percent growth forecast by Minister of Finance and Coordinating minister of the Economy Wale Edun.

It said, “In its economic outlook, the IMF downgraded Nigeria’s economic growth forecast for 2025 by 0.2 percentage points to 3.0 per cent, down from 3.2 per cent, while growth for 2026 was also revised downward by 0.3 percentage points to 2.7 per cent.

“The IMF justified this forecast by citing projected lower global oil prices as a significant risk to the country’s fiscal and external balances. We wonder how a single factor can be responsible for the projected massive decline in the size of an economy, moreso, when Nigeria is moving away from its dependency on crude oil earnings.

“However, the World Bank’s projection, on the other hand, offers a more optimistic view. In its report, the World Bank projected that Nigeria’s economy would grow by 3.6 per cent in 2025, building on an estimated 3.4 per cent expansion in 2024 and, thereafter, strengthening to 3.8 per cent by 2027.

“The bank credited the federal administration’s possible sustenance of economic reforms with the gradual stabilisation of the macroeconomic environment. Critical to the World Bank’s projection is the expected improvement in the performance of the non-oil sectors, mainly services such as financial services, telecommunications, and information technology, as well as easing inflationary pressures and improved business sentiment.”

IMPI also argued that it was not unusual for countries to pick holes in IMF’s projections while citing the examples of Mexico and Zambia where it was proved wrong.

“IMF’s GDP data discrepancies are not unique to Nigeria. At different times, its country members worldwide have had cause to dispute the body’s projections on various grounds. Mexico, for instance, has also disagreed with the IMF on its forecasts.

“In its World Economic Outlook, the IMF forecasted a 0.3 per cent contraction in Mexico’s economic growth for 2025, down from the Fund’s January forecast of a 1.4 per cent expansion, as U.S. tariffs bite into exports.

“In dismissing the IMF’s forecast, the Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum declared, “We do not know what it is based on. We disagree. We have our economic models, which the finance ministry has, that do not coincide with this projection.”

“She added that public investments would prevent the economy from contracting. She touted her government’s “Plan Mexico,” an effort to boost domestic industry amid tariffs U.S. President Donald Trump imposed on some imports from Mexico.

“From the foregoing, it is clear why Nigerians should not take the recent IMF’s negative economic projections very seriously. Experience has shown that several IMF projections on developing economies, such as ours, often prove inaccurate.

“In 2008, the IMF predicted that Zambia would be hit by the fall in copper prices during the financial crisis. The IMF was proven wrong as the Zambian economy survived the global downturn.

“We find comfort in the submission of the US Department of State, which described Nigeria as an economic miracle while commending the federal government’s ongoing reforms,”IMPI added.

On concerns by both the World Bank and IMF on poverty in Nigeria, the think tank posited that the incumbent federal administration is better placed than its predecessors to tackle the issue.

“We acknowledge the concerns the World Bank and the IMF raised about the limited impact of the policies on reducing poverty among everyday Nigerians.

“But the truth is that before 2023, the country had been a site for endemic poverty, with the number of people living in absolute poverty defined in terms of the minimal requirements necessary to afford minimal standards of food, clothing, healthcare and shelter, reaching a high of 99,284,512 people in 2010, about 60.9 per cent of the population at that time.

“In 2004, NBS estimated the poverty rate to be 54.7 per cent in 2004 and this was despite Nigeria experiencing economic growth, with crude oil prices ranging between $100 and $120 per barrel and a daily production of 2.3 million barrels.

“When the dynamics of the years, especially the oil boom era between 2010 and 2014, are compared to the evolving characters of the present-day economy, we see sufficient indicators of the impact on the average Nigerian in the near term.

“In other words, if there is ever a possibility of reducing the number of Nigerians living below the poverty line, it is under the current federal administration.

“For instance, the recently released Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) March 2025 economic report indicated continued expansion in economic activities across Nigeria. The composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), at 52.3 percentage points, indicates economic expansion for the third consecutive month in 2025,” it concluded.

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