The PeDan Investments portfolio saw its first tangible success with FarmGrid.
The AgriTech startup they'd invested N15 million in had secured a significant partnership deal with a major food processing company in Southwestern Nigeria. The deal involved deploying FarmGrid's sensor technology across hundreds of the company's contract farms and integrating the data into their supply chain management.
This partnership validated FarmGrid's technology and business model, causing its valuation to soar. Investment analysts covering the Nigerian tech scene began mentioning FarmGrid as a rising star. PeDan's initial N15M stake was now, at least on paper, worth closer to N50M, representing a more than 3x return in just a few months.
It was a significant win, providing concrete proof of PeDan's investment acumen (more like MH's investment acumen) and generating positive interest for the nascent firm.
The Lagos real estate joint venture still remained a significant capital drain though, albeit the potential was becoming more and more obvious. Securing development permits from the Lagos State government proved to be as complex and time-consuming as anticipated.
Haven Homes Ltd., the JV partner, took care of the bureaucracy, but unavoidable delays and associated fees mounted. PeDan Investments had to inject another N30 million tranche of funding as per the agreement to cover ongoing architectural revisions, environmental impact assessments, and various official (and unofficial) facilitation costs. This brought PeDan's total investment in the Lekki land and pre-development phase close to N150 million.
MH's long-term projections remained highly positive, forecasting substantial profits once the mini-estate was built and sold, but the sheer amount of capital locked up in this single project highlighted the need for PeDan to diversify its investments and eventually generate its own operational income beyond just Daniel's MH funding.
Back in Abuja, the WAEC examination period was in full swing, and Elizabeth was part of those taking it this year. True to his word, Daniel ensured she had a decent study environment. The house was kept quiet, her tutoring sessions continued, and he even advised his mom to withhold her iPhone 16 Pro Max for some time, which made Elizabeth understandably pissed.
Daniel had started researching potential university options for her abroad – UK, Canada – already planning the next stage of her education, wanting to give her opportunities he never had before MH entered his life. He was certain she would pass the exams; the smarts seemed to run in the family.
As for Sarah, she was already doing very well for herself, even without Daniel's financial aid. The Supermarket was earning her millions per month is pure profit, and with the fact that Daniel even helped her restock sometimes, free of charge, it would enter the tens. The car he had bought for her made her commutes much more relaxing, and she even gained more friends, those matching her financial status.
Meanwhile the pressure on Daniel himself remained immense, juggling FUTA coursework with more demanding second semester courses, managing the ever-expanding RF network (even with the Commander system, strategic oversight and funding withdrawals took time), directing PeDan's fledgling operations via Mrs. Chukwuma and the analysts, maintaining his relationship with Bisi, and always keeping an eye on MH.
By the way he had stopped doing personal trades on his own MH window. There was no longer space for accumulating strings of figures that could barely be used, while he already had money-makers in the works, so he put it on hold, with his main source of income for now being the RF network... but that might soon change.
Daniel did a progress report for himself every once in a while, and the satisfaction of being able to quantify his growth in this short period was… immense.
Sleep often felt like a luxury. Yet, the constant influx of wealth and the tangible progress on multiple fronts provided an addictive fuel.