Business

DBN disbursed N700bn to SMEs in seven years

The Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) said its disbursement to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has hit N700 billion in the last seven years.

The Managing Director of DBN, Mr Tony Okpanachi, disclosed this at the weekend during the celebration of International Women’s Day held at Wuye Ultra Modern Market, Abuja.

The theme of this year’s celebration is Celebrating the Amazons in the Market Place: Inspire Inclusion.”.

The Executive Director, Finance and Corporate Services, Mrs. Ijeoma Ozulumba, who represented Mr. Okpanachi at the occasion, said about 60 percent of the total disbursement went to women.

She noted that reports from Participation Financial Institutions (PFIs) indicate that non-performing loans (NPLs) from disbursement to women were the lowest in the industry.

“So far from the intervention that we’ve seen, our banks have reported to us that our portfolio has the lowest non-performing loans, there’s a good recovery in the loans, and the women’s portfolio is even lower in terms of default,” she said.

Mrs Ozulumba said the bank has disbursed over N700 billion as loans to entrepreneurs and about N137 billion to women and women-owned businesses.

“In the number of end-borrowers for our loans, 50 per cent have been women,” she explained, adding that the development finance institution has provided support for small and medium enterprises beyond finances with the sole aim of boosting economic growth.

She noted that specific training is also given to women on how they can manage their businesses and keep their books, how they can manage their operations, and access to markets and networks as well.

She said beyond funding, DBN does a lot of training, especially location-specific training, stressing that “last year, the bank was in the Northeast and Northwest to ensure that women have access to finance, have access to knowledge, grow their businesses, and develop their businesses. So this is very important.”

Joseph Inokotong