Nigeria iDICE Opens $110M Debt Funds for Startups

In Short

Nigeria iDICE has opened a $110 million debt financing window for tech and creative startups. It includes a $45 million BOI-backed fund and a $65 million IsDB-backed fund.

What Happened

Nigeria iDICE, a Federal Government programme run by the Bank of Industry, has launched two new debt facilities aimed at tech and creative enterprises across all 36 states and the FCT.

The first is the BOI-iDICE $45 million Debt Fund. It offers loans from ₦10 million to ₦1 billion, with interest capped at 10% per year. Repayment can run up to five years, with a moratorium of up to six months, which means a short pause before repayments start.

The second is the IsDB-iDICE $65 million Debt Fund. It is structured as Murabaha, a Sharia-compliant financing method where the financier buys an asset and resells it to the business at a disclosed markup. In plain terms, it is asset financing, similar to buying equipment through a structured payment plan rather than receiving a cash loan. The facility is open to all Nigerians, not only Islamic finance customers, and is mainly positioned to fund productive assets like equipment, technology tools, or creative infrastructure.

Both windows sit inside the wider iDICE programme, a $617 million government-backed initiative. iDICE is co-financed by the African Development Bank, Agence Française de Développement, and the Islamic Development Bank, with BOI as the executing agency and a co-financier.

Why It Matters

For Nigerian startups, bank loans often come with high interest rates and short tenors, which do not match startup cash flow. iDICE is trying to fill that gap with cheaper debt, longer repayment periods, and structures designed for different growth stages.

If implemented well, these funds could help more startups finance working capital and assets without giving up equity too early. It also signals that Nigeria is leaning more on structured debt and development finance to support the digital and creative economy.