The Bank of Industry (BOI), the Implementing Agency for the Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises (iDICE) Programme of the Federal Government of Nigeria, has announced the appointment of Kuramo Capital Management as Fund Manager of the DICE Fund of Funds.
The contract signing ceremony was held in Abuja between BOI’s Managing Director and the Chief Executive of Kuramo Capital.
It marks a pivotal milestone in Nigeria’s accelerating commitment to empowering its technology and creative entrepreneurs.
The DICE Fund of Funds is structured to achieve a minimum total capitalisation of $170.6 million, with the Federal Government contributing an anchor commitment of $85.3 million through the iDICE Programme.
Kuramo Capital is mandated to raise matching private-sector capital on a dollar-for-dollar basis.
This represents one of the largest dedicated government investments in technology and creative sector startups in African history.
iDICE: Nigeria’s Most Ambitious Innovation Investment Programme
The iDICE Programme represents the Federal Government of Nigeria’s most ambitious intervention in the digital economy and creative sectors.
Co-financed by the African Development Bank (AfDB), Agence Française de Développement (AFD), and Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the programme was designed with a clear mandate: to promote entrepreneurship, drive innovation, create jobs at scale, and position Nigeria as Africa’s leading hub for the knowledge economy.
iDICE is implementing its investment mandate through a suite of complementary funds.
In November 2025, the programme achieved a landmark first milestone when it made Nigeria’s inaugural direct government investment into a private venture capital fund — a cornerstone commitment to Ventures Platform’s VP Pan-African Fund II, which closed at $64 million with co-investors including the International Finance Corporation (IFC), British International Investment (BII), Standard Bank of South Africa, and Proparco.
The signing of the DICE Fund of Funds contract with Kuramo Capital is the latest in a series of significant milestones being delivered across the iDICE Programme.
As of June 2026, implementation is well advanced on all three programme pillars — skills and enterprise development, access to finance, and ecosystem enablement — with activities running in all six geopolitical zones.
Specifically, on skills and enterprise development, iDICE launched the iDICE Startup Bridge three months ago, with the first cohort of 185 founders well advanced in the week four of training.
Applications for Cohort 2 opened on June 24, 2026, and applications for the growth lab and post-MVP track expected to open in July 2026, offering growth-stage tech startups access to potential equity funding of up to $100,000.
The programme has commenced the setup and revamp of digital and creative hubs in 66 institutions: 36 universities and 30 polytechnics, across the country in collaboration with the National Universities Commission (NUC) and National Board for Technical Education (NBTE).
This amounts to working with academia to link research and project outcomes to industry.
As part of the programme’s access to finance component, BOI has also rolled out the BOI/iDICE Debt Fund and IsDB Murabaha Debt Fund.
Both debt products has set aside a combined financing of $110 million for start-ups in the technology and creative sectors
The DICE Fund of Funds: Reaching Every Corner of Nigeria
The DICE Fund of Funds will invest across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
It will deploy capital through indirect investments in selected closed-end venture capital and micro-venture capital funds focused on technology and creative sector businesses.
The Fund has a geographic mandate that ensures that capital reaches founders in the entire country, breaking the historical concentration of venture investment in a handful of urban centres.
The Fund targets a net Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 20 percent and a net money multiple of 2.4x, structured with the government’s commitment as a junior tranche acting as 30 percent first-loss capital — a deliberate risk architecture designed to de-risk the fund structure, improve the risk-return profile for co-investors, and crowd in additional private capital.
Speaking on the Fund, Dr. Olasupo Olusi, MD/CEO of the Bank of Industry, said: “By investing in Ventures Platform’s Fund II, and now by establishing the DICE Fund of Funds with Kuramo Capital, we are deepening the Federal Government’s objective of upscaling Nigeria’s technology and creative sectors by catalysing strategic investments in high-growth, technology-enabled enterprises.
“The Bank of Industry is proud to be the executing agency driving this historic investment into the hands of Nigeria’s innovators.”
Wale Adeosun, CEO of Kuramo Capital Management, said: “The DICE Fund of Funds represents a landmark moment for Africa’s venture capital ecosystem.
“Nigeria is demonstrating that a government can be both a serious anchor investor and a credible market-builder.
“We are honoured to be entrusted with this mandate and committed to deploying every resource at our disposal to raise the matching capital, invest wisely, and deliver returns that justify this historic confidence.”
While congratulating BOI and Kuramo Capital for this milestone on the iDICE Programme, Nigeria’s Vice President Kashim Shettima stated: “The commencement of investing by iDICE is an exciting milestone and a leap forward in the determined efforts of the Government of Nigeria, under the leadership of His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to deliver on our vision of unleashing the full potential of Nigeria’s young people, in line with the Renewed Hope agenda.”
