Ibadan-based B2B e-commerce startup Alerzo, which used to deliver goods to thousands of small retailers across Southwest Nigeria, is liquidating assets as Moniepoint Microfinance Bank (MFB) pursues a debt of N4.38bn. The company has now listed its fleet of buses, motorcycles, and other vehicles for sale.
Moniepoint had sued Alerzo Limited, its managing director, Opaleye Adewale Adesina, and three guarantors, Opaleye Bukola Modinat, Dauda Hakeem Omotayo Taiwo, and Alerzo PTE Limited, a Singapore-based entity, in a Federal High Court located in Lagos three weeks ago after Alerzo defaulted on a N5 billion loan it took in January 2025 for working capital.
The court granted Moniepoint MFB a Mareva injunction that stops financial institutions from releasing funds that belong to Alerzo Limited and its associates (the defendants) pending the time the outstanding debt of N4,381,662,054.47 is fully recovered. The debt has been outstanding since December 3, 2025, with interest charges continuing to accrue.
Details of the loan and Court orders
Court documents show that Alerzo Limited sought the loan under a board resolution passed on January 20, 2025, to fund its working capital needs. Moniepoint granted the 18-month facility, including terms that allow the lender to demand immediate repayment if a default occurs.
However, Moniepoint said after it issued a demand notice on November 18, 2025, Alerzo failed to settle the outstanding obligation. By December 3, 2025, the debt had risen to ₦4.38 billion, with interest continuing to accumulate.
The bank also told the court it had been unable to serve legal documents on the guarantors, stating that they could not be reached at their last known addresses. Due to this, the court approved substituted service on the guarantors at their last known addresses.
The bank also explained that the fifth defendant, Alerzo PTE Limited, is located in Singapore. Because the company is outside Nigeria, the bank had to seek the court’s approval to send the legal documents in an alternative way — in this case, by courier — instead of serving them in person.
The Federal High Court then ruled that concerned banks must freeze assets linked to Alerzo, its managing director, three guarantors, and the Singapore-registered affiliate pending the determination of the recovery suit. The court ordered banks to restrict transactions on the defendants’ accounts up to the claimed sum and to disclose account balances within seven days.
Why so much debt for Alerzo?
Alerzo first emerged as one of Nigeria’s most promising B2B commerce startups. The company had built a logistics network to supply small retailers with inventory directly with faster and seamless delivery at lower costs. Alerzo's business model simply cut out middlemen that typically inflated prices within the supply chain.
To power this business idea, Alerzo and its Singapore affiliate had to raise $20 million in 2021. The company hired over 100 workers for its logistics network and operated across Oyo, Ibadan, Lagos, Ogun, and other southwestern regions. But the debt drama started in 2023 when the company laid off employees as operational costs continued to mount.
The company was spending heavily on logistics, including maintaining and servicing its vehicles, fuelling bikes and vans, and paying drivers, just to stay competitive and grow its market share in a low-margin sector. These mounting operational costs were a key reason Alerzo sought the N5 billion working capital facility from Moniepoint.
Now, the company is selling off its assets, including the buses, dispatch motorcycles, and shuttles it once used for deliveries. That move suggests one of two possibilities: either Alerzo is liquidating assets to repay its debt to Moniepoint, or it is preparing to wind down operations entirely.
The sale of its delivery fleet, which is the backbone of the business, raises deeper concerns about how the company will continue operating without those delivery fleets. Alerzo would definitely struggle to continue operating at scale. So, Alerzo could eventually shutdown, and if that happens, it'll affect employees and those that benefit from the company.
Notably, Alerzo has supported many small retailers by helping them paint and brand their shops, using the opportunity to promote Alerzo’s own brand in a way that is visible and customisable for the shop owners.
The challenges that Alerzo is facing today show the harsh reality of the business-to-business trade sector in Nigeria. Companies often rely on high sales volumes but operate on razor-thin margins while carrying heavy logistics and storage costs.
Even the world's third-largest retailer, which is based on little markup of product prices for profit, still relies heavily on other means to generate revenue. When growth slows or economic conditions worsen, that model quickly becomes unsustainable.
Between 2020 and 2022, when investors were pumping money into African startups, Alerzo, like several other funded startups, struggled as capital became scarce and expenses climbed. The key difference, however, is that Alerzo turned to substantial borrowing from Moniepoint to stay afloat and is now unable to meet those obligations, with the fintech firm moving firmly to recover its funds.
