Chapel Hill launches a ₦7.5 billion gender bond to lend to women-owned businesses
The five-year bond is the first in Nigeria whose proceeds go only to women-owned and women-led firms, the company says.
Key findings
- Chapel Hill Financing SPV issued a ₦7.5 billion five-year fixed-rate bond as Series 2 of its ₦250 billion debt issuance programme.
- Net proceeds will be lent through Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria SME Limited to women-owned and women-led SMEs and MSMEs.
- Borrowers must meet the 2X Criteria and a framework aligned with ICMA's Social Bond Principles.
- FSD Africa advised on the structure and Agusto & Co. gave a second-party opinion.
Chapel Hill Advisory Partners announced on 11 November the launch of a ₦7.5 billion gender bond, a five-year fixed-rate note issued by Chapel Hill Financing SPV Plc as Series 2 under its ₦250 billion debt issuance programme, the company said in a release. The Guardian Nigeria also reported the issue. Chapel Hill describes it as the first Nigerian bond whose proceeds go only to businesses owned or led by women.
The net proceeds will be lent through Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria SME Limited (SME.NG), the group's gender-focused SME investment platform. Each borrower must meet the platform's own eligibility rules, the 2X Criteria set by 2X Global and a framework aligned with the International Capital Market Association's Social Bond Principles. Agusto & Co. provided an independent second-party opinion on that alignment, and FSD Africa, funded by the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, acted as sustainable finance adviser. The release does not state the coupon.
Chief executive Bolaji Balogun said women-owned businesses find longer-term capital hard to obtain, and FSD Africa's Evans Osano said the firm hoped the offer would become "the template for many more issuers".
Why it matters
Most lending to Nigerian small businesses is short-term bank credit at high rates. A labelled bond with independent review gives pension funds and other institutional investors a way to fund longer loans to a defined group of borrowers, and the size of the programme leaves room for further series if this one is placed well.
What to watch
- The coupon and the investors in the issue when results are announced.
- How quickly SME.NG lends the proceeds and how it reports on them.
- Whether other issuers follow with gender or social bonds.
Methodology
The bond's size, structure, use of proceeds and the parties involved are as stated in Chapel Hill's release of 11 November 2026 and reported by The Guardian Nigeria. Dataminal has not seen the offer document; the coupon was not disclosed in either source.