MAIS Limited and other key industry players have unveiled a $5 billion AssuredInvest Cooperative Trust Fund, the first-of-its-kind, demand-driven financing model for cooperative societies across the country.
The fund aims to mobilise capital for real cooperative needs anchored on transparency, cooperative governance, and member participation with a shift from traditional, top-down financing structures to a more inclusive and responsive framework.
Chief Vision Officer at MAIS Limited, Benjamin Aduli,during the unveiling in Abuja yesterday said, “This is not just another fund, it’s a declaration that cooperative capital, when transparently structured and purposefully deployed, can unlock the true economic potential of our people and our future, today, we begin the journey from marginalization to mobilisation.
Unlike conventional financial schemes that often flood the market with unsolicited capital, the AssuredInvest fund is unique in its design, it responds only to verified cooperative demand.
Whether it’s a rice farmer in Lokoja or a youth cooperative in Abeokuta, this fund is built to serve their structured needs”.
According to Aduli, the fund will be administered with strict oversight by trustee banks, insurance underwriters, and national cooperative federations including the Cooperative Financing Agency of Nigeria (CFAN), National Agricultural Cooperative Organisation (NACO) and Cooperative Housing Federation of Nigeria (COHFON).
He noted that the rollout phase will begin with the onboarding of verified cooperative societies nationwide urging stakeholders to engage with the Maistrade Ecosystem to access participation kits and funding tools.
Easter Audu, National President of the Women in Agric Cooperative Federation, described the event as “a national awakening” and lauded the dual unveiling of both the Fund and the National drone surveillance programme, a groundbreaking initiative developed in collaboration with Terra Industries and MAIS.
The drone programme, which will initially cover 20,000 rice farmers in Kogi State, is designed to enhance farmland protection and improve agricultural intelligence across rural communities.
“This isn’t just a press conference, it’s a signal that Nigeria’s cooperative movement is ready, ready to scale, to secure, and to serve,” Audu said.
