Pivoting is easy to praise and hard to survive. In 2025, Anu Adedoyin Adasolum did both. She led Sabi through one of the most consequential strategic shifts in African trade infrastructure: moving away from its original focus on informal FMCG markets to critical mineral commodities, where the stakes and consequences of getting it wrong are far higher.
To understand Anu Adedoyin Adasolum’s 2025, it is important to understand the minerals market in Nigeria and across Africa. Despite holding significant mineral reserves, the continent does not feature prominently in the global minerals supply chain. The continent’s reserves include 36% of chromium, 92% of platinum, 56% of cobalt, and 54% of manganese, all critical minerals.
The industry is largely populated by small, informal mining operations that limit export potential and make supply chains opaque, especially for global offtakers who have become keener on ethically sourcing raw materials for their manufacturing.
When Sabi, the digital infrastructure and market intelligence company she co-founded in 2021 with Ademola Adesina, first launched, they focused on the unyielding informal fast-moving consumer goods sector. Still, they began transitioning into the minerals and agricultural commodities space when it became more evident that there was a significant market opportunity there.
Under Adedoyin Adasolum’s leadership, Sabi entered the critical minerals space, focusing on lithium, a mineral critical to the global electric vehicle supply chain. By October 2025, the company had facilitated the shipment of more than 100,000 tons of lithium from Nigeria, placing Sabi among the top enablers of lithium exports in the region.
This activity has been powered by its proprietary TRACE (Technology Rails for the African Commodity Exchange) technology, launched in 2024 to meet a critical provenance gap in minerals originating from the African continent. With the technology, mineral exports are assigned digital passports that verify origin and quality and meet the ESG standards applicable in destination countries. Its pivot to mineral commodities required difficult operational decisions, including a workforce restructuring that reduced headcount by about 20%. Despite the transition, Sabi retained the strength of its underlying infrastructure, with an annualised GMV exceeding $1 billion and a merchant base of over 300,000.
