Nigerian B2B e-commerce startup Alerzo is liquidating its delivery assets, including buses, motorcycles, and operational vehicles, as it grapples with a multibillion-naira debt owed to Moniepoint Microfinance Bank.
Videos of the company’s facility in Ibadan, filled with dusty Alerzo-branded delivery motorcycles and buses, hit social media on Thursday with a background voice urging interested buyers to come and buy as many as needed.
The asset disposal follows a Federal High Court order in Lagos that froze the company’s accounts and assets after it defaulted on a N5 billion loan obtained in January 2025 to fund working capital needs.
As of December 2025, the outstanding debt stood at N4.38 billion, with interest continuing to accumulate.
What they are saying
While the company has yet to issue any official statement, sources close to the company blamed Alerzo’s business collapse on the harsh economic conditions in the country.
- “They tried their best. They did everything to stay afloat and keep several young Nigerians under their employment, but several economic factors were against them,” said a source close to the company.
Facing mounting financial pressure, Alerzo was said to have turned to Moniepoint in early 2025 for emergency funding.
The N5 billion loan was intended to stabilise operations and sustain inventory supply to retailers.
But within months, repayment challenges emerged, highlighting the fragile economics of high-volume, low-margin distribution businesses, particularly during periods of macroeconomic volatility.
However, the company’s CEO, Adewale Opaleye, clarified that the company is only selling scraps and not its operating vehicles. He added that the company currently has over 400 vehicles that are still in operation.
According to him, the sale of the vehicles has nothing to do with the Moiniepoint debt issue.
Court action after loan default
In January this year, the Federal High Court in Lagos granted Moniepoint Microfinance Bank Limited, a Mareva injunction against Alerzo Limited and its associates, restraining financial institutions from releasing funds linked to the Defendants pending the resolution of the debt.
- The Bank instituted the action against Alerzo Limited, its Managing Director, Opaleye Adewale Adesina, three guarantors Opaleye Bukola Modinat, Dauda Hakeem Omotayo Taiwo and Alerzo PTE Limited, a Singapore-based entity.
- Court documents reveal that Alerzo Limited applied for the loan through a board resolution dated January 20, 2025, to meet working capital requirements.
- Moniepoint approved the facility for 18 months, with provisions allowing immediate recall in the event of default.
- Despite a demand letter issued on November 18, 2025, the Defendants allegedly failed to liquidate their indebtedness. As of December 3, 2025, the outstanding balance stood at N4.38 billion, with interest charges continuing to accrue.
The Bank further alleged difficulties in serving court processes on the guarantors, noting that they were inaccessible at their known addresses. The fifth Defendant, Alerzo PTE Limited, was traced to Singapore, requiring leave of court for substituted service by courier.
Get up to speed
Founded as a fast-growing B2B commerce platform, Alerzo built a distribution network that supplied inventory directly to neighbourhood retailers, bypassing traditional wholesalers. The model promised lower prices, faster delivery, and improved efficiency for small shops.
At its peak, the company raised about $20 million in funding and expanded across Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, and other states in Southwest Nigeria, employing hundreds of staff.
However, the capital-intensive nature of logistics began to strain finances.
By 2023, the company had initiated layoffs as it struggled with rising operating costs, including vehicle maintenance, fuel, driver salaries, and warehousing expenses in a low-margin sector.
What you should know
Alerzo’s difficulties reflect broader challenges facing Nigerian startups that expanded rapidly during the 2020–2022 venture funding boom but have since struggled amid tighter capital markets and rising costs.
- Between 2023 and 2025, several Nigerian startups that raised millions of dollars in the boom period had shut down.
- One of such was 54gene, once valued at over $150 million and backed by Y Combinator and Adjuvant Capital, which folded in 2023 amid mismanagement claims and restructuring issues.
- In 2024, another Nigerian fintech startup, Thepeer, shut down its operations after failing to scale and align its product with market needs.
The company cited compliance issues and the slow adoption of digital wallets in Nigeria as key reasons for the closure. Thepeer had raised a $2.1 million seed round in June 2022.
Note: This article has been updated to include clarifications on the asset sales by the founder and CEO of Alerzo, Adewale Opaleye.
This is quite disheartening, i feel sorry for Alerzo, it’s really painful to end up a profitable business template is this kind way.
I like everything about the website
The company didn’t fold up due to economic conditions in any way. The downfall of the company was purely a faulty management gross indiscipline and youthful exorbitant.
The company was doing fantastically well in every aspect.
So economic conditions are out of the points claimed.
This simply illustrates the struggles a lot of S & M. businesses are going through just to survive. For a good number of them the weight will eventually come down, pressing hard on them. And without much to hold onto, they just give up. Don’t blame them.
Yes, mismanagement kills businesses; but so does excruciating cost of funding. A lending company, the type that the really micro businesses are comfortable dealing, gives out loan at a crazy rate of 30% flat per month.
How will the business survive?
I feel pain hearing this kind of stories for businesses generally. Doing business in Nigeria these days requires alot of sacrifice and stringent financial management. I believe Alerzo can still make it after this time.