Investors Storm Bamboo as Dangote IPO Triggers Massive App Traffic

• Bamboo said unusually heavy traffic from investors trying to access the Dangote Refinery IPO caused login difficulties on its platform.

• The investment app said it was working to restore normal access after some users were unable to log in.

• The disruption highlights the intense retail interest surrounding Dangote Refinery’s N2.15 trillion public offer, which opened on Monday.

September 14, () – Bamboo, a digital investment platform, experienced login difficulties on Monday as a surge of users attempted to access its platform to subscribe to the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE public offer.

The investment app acknowledged the disruption in a statement posted on its official X account, attributing the difficulty to traffic that was significantly higher than anticipated.

“Hey everyone, we’re getting a much higher-than-expected traffic trying to get into the Dangote IPO, and it’s making it difficult for some users to log into the Bamboo app,” the company said.

“We’re working on a fix, and it will be up and running shortly.”

The platform did not provide a specific timeframe for the full restoration of access but assured affected users that its technical team was working to resolve the problem.

IPO triggers retail investor rush

The disruption came shortly after Dangote Refinery opened its N2.15 trillion Initial Public Offering (IPO), one of the largest equity offerings in Africa.

The offer comprises 4.1 billion new ordinary shares priced at N525 each, with investors able to subscribe for a minimum of 10 shares at N5,250.

The offer opened on September 14 and is scheduled to close on October 13, with the company targeting retail, institutional and eligible African investors.

The refinery is seeking to broaden its ownership base through the offer, with a target of up to 10 million shareholders.

The strong early interest has also been reflected at the Nigerian Exchange, where officials disclosed that more than N10 billion had already been subscribed shortly after the offer opened.

Umaru Kwairanga, chairman of Nigerian Exchange Group, said more than N10 billion had already been subscribed from 8:00 am, while Access Holdings chairman Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede said billions of naira had been subscribed by thousands of investors within minutes or less than an hour.

Digital platforms face pressure

The Bamboo disruption illustrates the pressure that a large retail investment campaign can place on digital investment infrastructure when thousands of users attempt to access an offer simultaneously.

The Dangote IPO has been heavily promoted as an opportunity for ordinary Nigerians to acquire an interest in one of Africa’s largest industrial projects, with the minimum subscription deliberately set at 10 shares.

The proceeds from the offer are expected to support the refinery’s expansion and strategic investments, including plans to increase its processing capacity from 700,000 barrels per day to 1.4 million barrels per day by 2030.

For retail investors, the immediate challenge was not the size of the minimum investment but access to platforms through which subscriptions could be made, with Bamboo’s temporary login problems underscoring the unprecedented demand generated by the offer.