Sabou Capital invests 2 million USD in Tomato Jos as Nigeria closes the door on imported tomato paste
Sabou Capital has announced a US$2 million impact-linked debt facility to Tomato Jos Farming and Processing Limited, Nigeria’s leading tomato-paste manufacturer, headquartered in Kaduna. The Naira-denominated facility supports the company’s growth, the expansion of its smallholder farmer network, and the build-out of its processing capacity.
Tomato Jos is exactly the kind of business we back, one that turns an import dependency into local jobs, farmer income, and a stronger domestic economy. We structured this deal so that our financial return grows with the impact they create.
— Surayyah Ahmad, Managing Partner, Sabou Capital.
Nigeria consumes more than 2.3 million tons of fresh tomatoes each year. Historically, up to 90% of all processed-tomato demand was met through imports. Following the Federal Government’s recent ban on tomato-paste imports, that market is now open to domestic manufacturers and Tomato Jos, with its certified processing facility and established supply chain, is positioned to fill it.
Tomato Jos operates from Kaduna State in Northern Nigeria, a region that rarely attracts institutional investment. The deal is central to Sabou Capital’s strategy of deploying capital outside Africa’s major commercial centers, with a focus on businesses that create jobs for women, young people, and smallholder farming communities.
The facility is structured as Impact-Linked Debt, a financing instrument that connects financial returns to social and economic outcomes. Tomato Jos directly employs 204 Nigerians and sources from more than 3,000 smallholder farmers, 60% of whom are women. The company meets all four criteria of the 2X Challenge, a global benchmark for gender-lens investment.
As Tomato Jos continues to grow, partners like Sabou Capital are crucial to our journey. The opportunity in front of us is real, but so is the competition; we’re up against international organizations with deep pockets. We are grateful to investors like Sabou who understand why our business matters beyond the cheque they write and the financial return they will get, because supporting us means supporting a community of over 10,000 small farmers and their families.
–– Mira Mehta, Founder & CEO, Tomato Jos
This investment is part of Sabou Capital’s broader focus on growth-stage businesses in underserved African markets. Companies that create jobs and income at scale, in places where that capital is hardest to find. Sabou expects to announce further investments across its portfolio through the remainder of 2026.
About Sabou Capital
Sabou Capital, headquartered in Abuja, Nigeria, is an Africa-focused fund providing adaptive credit and structured debt instruments to growth-stage SMEs across Nigeria, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire. The firm partners with founders building category-defining businesses in agribusiness, essential consumer services, fintech, healthcare, and logistics.
About Tomato Jos
Tomato Jos Farming and Processing Limited is a vertically integrated tomato-paste manufacturer headquartered in Kaduna, Nigeria. Founded in 2014 by Mira Mehta, the company operates Nigeria’s most technologically advanced tomato processing facility, the country’s largest network of smallholder tomato farmers, and a fast-growing branded tomato paste portfolio in West Africa.
