Country guide
Startup credits in Nigeria
A startup registered in Nigeria can apply to 1296 programs we track: 929 credit programs and 367 accelerators. 131 more are restricted to other countries, and they are named below.
African founders are the group most often quietly excluded by credit programs, usually through a country allowlist buried in the terms rather than anything stated up front.
This page separates the two. What a Nigerian company can apply for today, and what is shut to you, so you can spend your time on the first list.
What your entity needs to be
A company registered with the CAC satisfies the entity requirement for the programs that are open. Payment verification is the more common practical hurdle: several providers ask for a card that passes their checks, so a corporate card or a Wise or Payoneer business account saves a round trip.
Open to Nigerian startups
The largest programs with no country restriction blocking you.
- NKFIH Startup Factory Programme$5,000,000,000
National Research, Development and Innovation Office, Hungary
- Fonds de Soutien à l’Innovation$3,000,000,000
DER/FJ, Senegal
- CSI and Startup Flagship Program$1,200,000,000
Ministry of Industry, Commerce & Employment, Bhutan
- Skolkovo Foundation Grants$850,000,000
Skolkovo Foundation
- SME Subsidised Loan Facility$200,000,000
Government of Papua New Guinea, via Bank South Pacific
- Startup Tunisia (Smart Capital)$100,000,000
Smart Capital, Tunisia
Closed to Nigerian startups, and why
These set a country allowlist that does not include Nigeria. We list them so you do not spend an evening on an application that cannot succeed.
- R&D Tax Relief for SMEs
Open to United Kingdom.
- Egypt Ventures
Open to Egypt.
- Business Finland Tempo Funding
Open to Finland.
- Shanghai AI Ecosystem Subsidy Program
Open to China.
- ICICI Bank iStartup2.0
Open to India.
- EXIST Gründerstipendium
Open to Germany.
Accelerators based in Nigeria
Questions founders here ask
Looking for accelerators instead?
Credits and accelerator programs are judged on different rules, so they have their own list.
Startup accelerators in Nigeria