RIF Elite Growth Alliance Marks 8 Years of Unbroken Partner Relations, Grants Public Access for the First Time Through Afroxtend Launch

By Benson Michael

For years, members resisted public access. What changed?

For most of its existence, RIF Elite Growth Alliance reportedly operated on one unspoken rule: if you were not introduced by an existing partner, you do not get in.

REGA began in 2017 as an informal arrangement between business connections in Nigeria, Dubai, and the United Kingdom. Members pooled capital into ventures agriculture, trade, logistics and shared profits at the end of each cycle. There was no public presence. Just a network that grew slowly through trust.
By 2021, partners in Canada and the United States had joined. The network had survived economic downturns, currency devaluations, and a global pandemic. Eight years in, the organisation claims not a single dispute has been recorded between REGA and any of its partners.

And yet, for all that success, most Nigerians had never heard of it.
“That was deliberate,” says Ewatomilade Adeyemi, REGA’s EMEA Coordinator. “Every time the conversation about public access came up, it was shut down. Members had seen what happens when financial platforms go mainstream in Nigeria. The fear was real.”
That fear was not unfounded. Nigeria’s landscape is littered with collapsed schemes platforms that launched with promise and ended in scandal. For REGA’s partners, staying private was a form of protection.
Chukwuemeka Obi, an Enugu based entrepreneur who says he has been a REGA partner since 2018, was one of the voices against expansion.

“I will be honest I was among those who said no,” he admits. “Not because I did not want others to benefit. But because I had seen too many good things get destroyed by mass entry. People come in with wrong expectations, wrong motives. Before you know it, the thing you trusted is no longer what it was.”
So what changed?

According to Adeyemi, two things. First, infrastructure. Over eight years, REGA had developed internal systems for vetting, documentation, and cycle management that did not exist in the early days. Second, demand.

“People were finding out anyway,” Adeyemi explains. “Partners would mention it to family. Family would tell friends. We were getting enquiries from people we had no way to verify or onboard. It became clear that controlled access was better than no access at all.”
The solution was Afroxtend.

Developed in partnership with Bigisub, a micro platform for utility services, Afroxtend serves as a digital gateway for public participation in REGA’s cycles. But it is not open registration. Every applicant goes through a verification process. Allocation is limited. Onboarding happens at a measured pace.

Omoba Adekoya, one of REGA’s prominent founding members, brokered the Bigisub partnership.
“Afroxtend is not REGA trying to go commercial,” he clarifies. “It is REGA creating a controlled entry point. The network remains the same. The standards remain the same. The only difference is that now, someone without an inside connection has a path in if they qualify.”

The first project under Afroxtend, Gateway Prime (Nigeria), is now live on Bigisub, available on Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Early reports suggest demand is high, though the network has not disclosed specific numbers.

For Chukwuemeka, the launch is a moment he once argued against but one he now cautiously supports.
“I told them if you are going to do this, do it properly. No rushing people in. No compromising the process. So far, they have kept their word. Let us see how it goes.”