LAGOS – Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) has disbursed at least N400 billion to Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) companies in the country in the last four years, Mr. Tony Okpanachi, the Managing Director of the bank has said.
This is as the bank recently held its second annual lecture series to further enlighten and promote MSMEs in Nigeria.
A statement by the DBN’s media consultant said that Okapanachi made the N400 billion disbursement disclosure in his opening remarks at the session themed: ‘Resilient Innovation: MSMEs Adaptability in Uncertain Times.’
The statement hinted that Okpanachi, stated that the mandate of the bank underscores its commitment to the cause of championing conversation on how MSMEs could prosper despite the odds at this peculiar time.
He declared that since the bank commenced operations in 2017, it had contributed meaningfully to growth of Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the country through loan facilities and capacity building.
The breakdown of the disbursements indicated that the bank distributed the sum to over 150,000 MSMEs, which included 27 per cent women, while 28 per cent of them were youth who owned and created over 130,000 jobs.
He added that In the year 2020 alone, the sum of N190 billion was disbursed through 19 Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs) out of which N9.8bn was to 6,935 first time borrowers, N5.7 billion to 9,066 youths and N11.8 billion to 25,171 women owned businesses.
He added: ‘’Cumulatively, 83 per cent reported an increase in their sales after obtaining the loan while 48 per cent were able to increase their staff strength after receiving the facility. In addition, 125 MSMEs were also trained as part of our capacity building initiative through the DBN Entrepreneurship Training programme which was held in Abuja and Lagos.
‘’Participants were lectured by experts on development of business plans, basic accounting and management, digital marketing strategies, basic promotional tools, and assessing business opportunities.’’
Also commenting, Shehu Yahaya Chairman, of DBN in his remarks noted that the whole focus of the lecture was to combine efforts with other stakeholders to develop ideas, policies, programmes and projects to precipitate changes in the MSMEs sector and collaborate to implement them in the coming years.
He stressed that major changes are occurring at the global level and Nigeria must position itself to take advantage.
‘All certainties are being pushed aside and new realities are emerging at a faster rate than it ever occurred in the history of human race. PWC projected that by 2050, the world economy can more than double in size far outpacing population growth due to continued technology driven productivity improvements.
‘’The USA could become 3rd in global economy rankings, the UK could be down to 10th place, France out of the top 10 and Italy missing out of the top 20, overtaken by fast growing economies like Turkey, Mexico and Vietnam. Nigeria and Africa in general must position itself to take maximum advantage of this hiatus, we must not miss out,’’ he said.
