The Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) on Friday disclosed that it had disbursed about N700 billion to Small and Medium Enterprises’ (SMEs’) owners in the last seven years in furtherance of its mandate to support efforts by the government to grow the nation’s economy.
The Managing Director of the development finance institution, DBN gave this hint during a programme organized by the bank to mark this year’s International Women Day with the theme “Celebrating the Amazons in the Market Place- Inspire Inclusion” in Abuja
Represented at the event by the bank’s Executive Director, Finance and Corporate Services, Mrs Ijeoma Ozulumba, the Managing Director explained that out of the disbursed sum to SMEs, 60% were extended to women SME entrepreneurs.
Okpanachi noted that reports from Participation Financial Institutions (PFIs) indicated that Non-Performing Loans(NPLs) from disbursement to women was the lowest in the industry.
He said: “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 good recovery in the Loans and also women portfolio is even lower in terms of default.
“In the number of end borrowers for our loans 50 percent have been women”, the development finance expert added
In addition to funding support, the Managing Director further clarified that the bank had also provided capacity building training to women SMEs’ owners on how they can manage their businesses, keep their books, manage their operations, access markets and building networks, among others.
