What DFIs actually look for in a financial model
19 July 2026 · 8 min read
Having supported over ₦1.4 billion in funding, the pattern is consistent: models are rejected for traceability, not for arithmetic.
Reviewers read the assumptions sheet first. Every driver should have a source, a date and a sensitivity range. If a number cannot be traced to a contract, a price list or a published index, it will be discounted.
The second read is the cash waterfall. Show the facility drawdown, the repayment profile and the covenant headroom on one page.
Third comes the downside case. A model that only shows a base case reads as an advocacy document. Show what happens at 70% of projected volumes.
Finally, the model must be operable by someone who did not build it. Consistent formulas across a row, no hard-coded overrides and clear input formatting matter more than clever functions.