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| Cascador 2026 |
Cascador Bets on Nigeria’s Real Economy With 2026 ScaleUp Cohort
In a Nigerian startup ecosystem often captivated by fintech unicorns, billion-dollar valuations and the next big tech breakthrough, Cascador is taking a different route.
The Nigeria-focused growth programme has unveiled its 2026 ScaleUp cohort, selecting 10 businesses that reflect a more grounded—and arguably more difficult—side of entrepreneurship: healthcare, agriculture, clean energy, food manufacturing, tourism, beauty, fitness, property technology and critical minerals.
The selection followed more than 1,000 applications, with Cascador deliberately looking beyond the conventional venture capital playbook to identify businesses solving tangible problems in Nigeria’s economy.
Among the selected companies are ColdHubs, which provides solar-powered cold storage; EHA Clinics, a primary healthcare provider; and SunFi, a solar financing platform.
According to Cascador COO Oyin Solebo, the application process revealed just how much entrepreneurial depth exists outside the tech companies that typically dominate headlines.
“We received more than 1,000 qualified applications,” Solebo said. “What surprised us most was how much entrepreneurial depth exists beyond the part of the Nigerian ecosystem that typically gets the headlines.”
She noted that many of the founders selected may not even identify themselves as conventional “startup founders” and may never have raised institutional venture capital.
The Difference Between Growth and Scale
At the heart of Cascador’s approach is a distinction many founders struggle with: growth is not the same as scaling.
Solebo explained that while growth often means doing more of what already works, scaling requires businesses to fundamentally change how they operate so they can achieve exponential growth without costs and complexity rising at the same pace.
The entrepreneurial hustle, improvisation and relationship-driven problem-solving that help businesses survive their early years can eventually become limitations when founders attempt to build enduring institutions.
“Capital can accelerate a strong organisation, but it can just as easily amplify the weaknesses in an unprepared one,” Solebo said.
That philosophy also shaped Cascador’s selection process. Some seemingly strong applicants were rejected after deeper due diligence revealed concerns around unit economics, finances or governance.
For others, the issue was coachability.
Solebo described Cascador’s ideal participants as “learning multipliers”—founders who are willing to challenge their assumptions, absorb new ideas and turn lessons into better decisions. Over time, she believes such founders can become “resource multipliers” capable of creating significantly more value from capital, talent and networks.
When the Wrong Capital Becomes Expensive
Perhaps the programme’s most contrarian position is its approach to financing.
Solebo argues that Nigeria’s growth-stage funding challenge is not simply about a lack of available capital. Rather, it is often a mismatch between the type of capital businesses receive and the problem they need to solve.
A profitable company that needs short-term working capital to fulfil confirmed orders, for instance, may not need to surrender permanent equity for a temporary financing requirement.
Conversely, a company entering an untested market may be poorly served by expensive short-term debt.
For many Nigerian businesses, however, the choice has historically been limited to commercial debt or venture-style equity.
Cascador’s Catalytic Fund, deployed in partnership with Sterling Bank and capable of deploying up to $5 million annually, seeks to address that gap by matching financing structures to specific business needs. Depending on the circumstances, that could mean local-currency debt, guarantees, blended financing—or, in some cases, no new capital at all.
A Cohort Built Around the Real Economy
The 2026 cohort reflects Cascador’s sector-agnostic philosophy.
Sixty per cent of the selected businesses are women-led, while the founders represent five of Nigeria’s six geopolitical regions.
The 10 companies are ColdHubs, EHA Clinics, SunFi, Venco, Beauty Hut Africa, BEYOND Fitness, Ziba Beach Resort, Tulay Africa, Maanj Africa and Finger Chops.
For Finger Chops CEO Adenike (Oyebola) Fetuga, the programme represents an opportunity to take the company beyond its roots as a catering business and toward its broader ambition of becoming a major African food manufacturing company.
“Finger Chops has been able to grow from a catering service into a trusted full-scale bakery serving communities and businesses,” Fetuga said. “But our vision does not stop there.”
She added that the company aims to build a leading African food manufacturing business anchored on quality, locally sourced products and operational excellence.
Beyond Capital
Since 2019, Cascador says it has supported 70 ventures that have collectively raised more than $125 million. In 2025 alone, those businesses delivered essential products and services to more than 1.7 million customers.
But Solebo cautions against treating capital as the defining ingredient of entrepreneurial success.
“Two businesses given exactly the same amount of money can produce completely different outcomes,” she said. “What often differentiates them is the quality of the judgement applied to that capital.”
That judgement can sometimes mean resisting the pressure to expand.
For Solebo, progress is not always synonymous with expansion. The smarter decision may be to narrow a target market, abandon a product or postpone entry into a new market.
A Programme That Has Evolved
Cascador’s own model has also changed.
While its early programmes placed significant emphasis on classroom-style learning, the organisation now prioritises hands-on execution, stronger governance and the development of leadership teams capable of supporting businesses as they grow.
“For our founders to grow as leaders, durable support structures must be in place as they execute on the knowledge gained,” Solebo said.
That evolution is reflected in the 2026 cohort: businesses focused less on abstract digital experimentation and more on solving everyday problems—from preventing food spoilage through solar cold storage to expanding access to primary healthcare and financing clean-energy solutions.
In an ecosystem where venture capital often determines which businesses get attention, Cascador’s latest cohort makes a different argument: some of Nigeria’s most important growth stories may be happening far beyond the hype cycle.