Nigeria’s securities regulator has urged local founders to look closer to home for capital, arguing that crowdfunding and debt markets can offer a route to an eventual stock market listing.
Emomotimi Agama, director-general of the Securities and Exchange Commission, told Moonshot by TechCabal in Lagos on Wednesday that founders could start by raising money from people who already trusted them, then use instruments such as commercial paper to test investor appetite. Debt could also help entrepreneurs fund growth without surrendering equity, he said.
But he warned against using short-term bank loans to finance long-term ambitions. “That’s a mismatch that will drown you.”
“The problem that a lot of people have is that they are shy of speaking to the regulator or even financial advisers,” Agama said. “Once we understand your constraints, we are also able to tell you exactly how to go about it and what you need to do to raise capital.”
The SEC wants the local market to absorb more of the money founders now chase overseas. On October 19, Vice President Kashim Shettima unveiled the Nigerian Capital Market Master Plan 2.0, a 10-year roadmap targeting ₦750 trillion ($549 billion) in market capitalisation by 2036. Agama said the market has already grown from ₦55 trillion ($40.3 billion) in 2024 to more than ₦162 trillion ($118.6 billion). He pointed to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery IPO, which closed on October 27 after an SEC-approved extension, saying investors from 54 African countries subscribed.
Digital asset firms got a blunter message. In January, the SEC raised the minimum capital for crypto exchanges and custodians to ₦2 billion ($1.46 million) from ₦500 million ($366,000), with a compliance deadline of June 30, 2027. Agama said capital requirements test whether a company can carry out its business, and he urged young founders to pool resources with partners. “You cannot be a cockroach and decide to wrestle with elephants,” he said.
Licensing has also moved slowly. An audience member from the Virtual Asset Service Providers Association asked why no crypto platform is fully licensed, more than two years after the SEC launched its Accelerated Regulatory Incubation Programme (ARIP) in June 2024. Quidax and Busha received provisional licences that August and are still awaiting full approval. Agama said the SEC has charged ARIP firms no fees while it studies the risks in their businesses, and that it cannot act alone because other regulators share the space.
“If you are not an investor, then you must be a victim,” he said, meaning anyone who invests in an unregulated business.
For founders building stablecoin or tokenisation products, the lesson is to engage early. Agama said the SEC oversees digital asset activity outside payments, while the Central Bank of Nigeria handles payments. Firms that fall under SEC rules and stay away are in violation, he said, and “ignorance of the law is not an excuse.”
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I am the CEO of 9JAGISTLAND.My name is Adedeji Timothy and my co-owner is Oyekola Damilare.This blog is born out of our passion to educating to people in all aspect of internet life.We are enthusiastic about writing posts and articles online.
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