Design the Blended Finance Vehicle That Funds Nigerian Social Enterprises at Scale

Blended finance — combining grant, concessional debt, and commercial capital in a single vehicle — has unlocked investment in social enterprises globally. In Nigeria, it remains largely theoretical. The few blended finance vehicles that operate are either too small to matter, restricted to specific sectors, or inaccessible to enterprises below a certain revenue threshold. Social enterprises that are past the grant stage but not yet investable by conventional VCs are the biggest unserved segment. Your challenge is to design a blended finance vehicle for Nigerian social enterprises with annual revenue between ₦50 million and ₦500 million. It must combine DFI first-loss capital, impact investor concessional debt, and commercial bank lending; target an all-in cost of capital below 14% annually; and reach 20 investees in its first three years deploying a minimum of ₦2 billion. Submit a fund design document (max 12 pages) including: the capital structure, investor return model for each capital layer, enterprise eligibility criteria, investment process, reporting requirements, fund management model, and the fundraising strategy for DFI first-loss capital. Judging criteria: 40% capital structure design and cost of capital model, 30% DFI and investor engagement strategy, 20% enterprise eligibility and investment process, 10% fund management model.