The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the rules for listing on Nigeria Exchange’s new Technology Board, the NGX has announced.
The technology board is a specialised listing and capital-raising platform for technology-based businesses on The Exchange. NGX hopes to promote investments in African and indigenous technology-oriented businesses through the tech board. It also aims to provide these businesses more visibility and ultimately expand the Nigerian capital market. Qualified institutional investors, retail investors, and high-net-worth investors will all have access to the securities listed on the NGX Technology Board.
This approval comes as the Nigerian Exchange positions itself to take a bite out of Nigeria’s expanding startup market, which has given birth to five unicorns (companies that are still in the early stages of development but have each been valued at $1 billion or more) and made the country the tech capital of Africa.
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Nigeria Exchange Technology Board listing
The nation’s tech-based enterprises are closely analyzing digital gaps in the way businesses service consumers, from large players like Jumia, Interswitch, OPay and Andela and Flutterwave, the newest of the five. They are achieving this with turnkey solutions that are so alluring and full of promise to investors from Sweden and the Silicon Valley and San Francisco areas of the United States that they are powerless to resist them.
However, the scope of NGX’s mission goes far beyond Nigeria, where entrepreneurs received one of every three dollars in fintech funding allocated to Africa, the Middle East, and Pakistan in the previous year.
The drive will open up opportunities for entrepreneurs with some experience in business that wants to raise money to expand their operations.
The NGX aspires to become a big player in the region at this level of capital-raising intervention as Africa’s fintech income is expected to increase by 800% to $30.3 billion by 2025, according to a McKinsey & Co. study published in August.
The CEO of NGX, Temi Popoola, explained that this development “… is a landmark achievement that will position the Exchange as an attractive destination for capital formation by companies within the Technology Sector.”
He emphasised that the commission is “… confident that NGX Technology Board will encourage start-ups, both Nigerian-founded and from other African countries, to list on the Exchange as they work towards meeting their financing needs.”
Prior to making this significant progress on December 15, the NGX had been trying since at least this February to persuade the SEC to accept the listing rules.
In the five years leading up to 2025, financial services income on the continent is predicted to rise from $150 billion to $230 billion, according to McKinsey & Co.
Francophone Ghana and West Africa are expected to experience the fastest growth, followed by Nigeria and Egypt.
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Nigerian Exchange Group
Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX Group) Plc. is a major integrated market infrastructure in the continent that is leading in the development of Africa’s financial markets.
Through its wholly-owned companies, NGX Group offers a comprehensive range of services, including the listing and trading of securities, licensing, market data solutions, ancillary technologies, regulation, real estate, and more.
