On Wednesday, the French Development Agency, Agence Française de Développement (AFD), and the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) inked a deal for a €50 million line of credit to help women-owned enterprises in Nigeria.
The primary goals are enhancing gender integration within DBN and its partner financial institutions (PFls), strengthening access to financing, and building the capacity of women MSMEs. They also aim to assist the growth of women’s entrepreneurship, empowerment, and job creation.
An extra €825,000 technical assistance program is also included in the package.
“The facility will upscale the bank’s effort to lift women businesses from micro to large scale enterprises, with wider implications for the economy,” stated Tony Okpanchi, MD/CEO of DBN, during the brief signing event in Abuja.
According to Okpanachi, the bank is driven to negotiate the specific facility because of Nigerian women-owned businesses’ challenges when trying to obtain funding.
Due to their economic catalytic effect, women-owned firms have received 74% of DBN’s on-lending.
Additionally, he pointed out that the program could spur more funding from other development partners.
He noted that the DBN and the French Development Bank had a long and fascinating cooperation. The DBN was one of the bank’s original backers and has helped give technical and other required assistance since the bank’s founding seven years ago.
He promised that the bank would use its more than 70 Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs) nationwide to guarantee a good geographic distribution of the money.
“DBN is seven years old, but the partnership with AFD has been really strong. And that cooperation is being continued with this additional funding,” Okpanachi said.
He claimed that women entrepreneurs are heavily represented in DBN’s focus areas because their empowerment is thought to have a beneficial catalytic effect on the country.
“This is enormous, and I have to thank the French and AFD for this extra help.”
AFD’s country director, Xavier Muron, reaffirmed in his remarks that women’s entrepreneurship is not only a social justice issue but also a strategic priority for creating a more robust and inclusive society.
He emphasized that, despite their potential and inventiveness, women are still limited and that economic empowerment is even essential to reaching several SDGs.
Studies conducted in 2020 found that 40 percent of Nigerian women could not access the financial systems.
