Nigeria’s BIG Raises $1.5M To Turn Farm Waste Into Carbon Credits

Biochar Industrial Group has raised $1.5 million in pre-seed funding to build a network of small industrial systems that turn agricultural waste into biochar, giving a Nigerian-founded climate startup fresh capital to test whether carbon removal can become a practical business for African processors.

Known as BIG, the company was founded by Ikenna Nzewi, Uzoma Ayogu and Isaiah Udotong, the team behind agricultural technology company Releaf. The round was led by Breega and Catalyst Fund, with additional non-dilutive support from the Mulago Foundation.

BIG’s model places compact pyrolysis equipment at agricultural processing sites. Instead of allowing crop residue to rot or be burned openly, the machines heat it with very little oxygen and convert it into biochar, a carbon-rich material that can improve soil and keep part of the original carbon out of the atmosphere for a long period.

The processor supplies the waste and can share in the value created, while BIG operates the equipment and sells biochar or verified carbon-removal credits. That arrangement could solve a basic logistics problem. Moving bulky agricultural waste over long distances is expensive, so processing it where it is produced can make the economics more realistic.

The attraction is easy to see. Nigeria and other African markets generate huge volumes of residues from cocoa, palm, maize, rice and other crops. Much of that material has little commercial value and can become a pollution problem. BIG is trying to turn the same waste into a soil product and a measurable climate asset.

But carbon removal is not valuable merely because a machine produces black material. Buyers need credible measurements showing how much carbon was captured, how stable the biochar is and whether the process created emissions elsewhere. Strong monitoring, reporting and verification will therefore be central to the company.

The funding will support equipment deployment, technical development and expansion into more processing sites. It also places BIG inside a growing group of African climate companies trying to build businesses around clean energy, waste and finance. Nigerian firms such as Rivy have similarly moved towards financing sustainable infrastructure, reflecting demand for models that work around weak grids and fragmented supply chains.

A successful first network of sites could give BIG proof that its Biochar-as-a-Service approach works beyond a laboratory or a single factory. It could also provide processors with a new income stream without asking them to become climate-technology experts.

The opportunity is significant, but so is the burden of proof. BIG must show that its equipment remains reliable in difficult operating conditions and that the carbon credits it produces deserve confidence. If it can do both, agricultural waste that is currently treated as a nuisance could become part of Africa’s emerging carbon-removal economy.