Ororo Waste Management Limited, a Nigerian-founded used cooking oil (UCO) waste management company, has secured ₦1.4 billion ($1 million) from Rising Tide Africa, a women-oriented angel investment network, to strengthen operations and support its expansion across Nigeria.
“Ororo” is the Yoruba word for cooking oil.
This investment is double the figure Rising Tide Africa usually does. It made the first tranche on September 16, and the next is expected on December 16.
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The startup, Lagos State‘s partner for institutional-scale UCO collection and export, intends to use this capital to purchase used cooking oil from its collector network and cover hub operating costs.
Founded in 2021 by former PwC consultant Ayodele Banjo and Lawson Nzekwe, Ororo Waste is building the infrastructure to collect used cooking oil from households, markets, and businesses and connect it to a market for waste-based feedstock. It operates in three collection hubs across Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt. It plans to expand to about 40 hubs across Nigeria in 5 years.
Cooking oil becomes waste from repeated heating. The company aims to grow its formally paid collector network from about 5,000 people to more than 200,000 by 2031, while increasing certified UCO collection to more than 150,000 tonnes annually.
Yemi Keri, president of Rising Tide Africa, agrees, “Capital should be structured around the needs of the business, and returns and impact do not have to be competing objectives”
In July, it trained 250 market women, waste pickers, and youths with Lagos’ environmental regulator and Shell Foundation.
Last updated: October 2, 2026
