More than 60 percent of the over N700 billion disbursed by the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) to Small and Medium Enterprises(SMEs) in the last seven years went to the women, the Managing Director, Tony Okpanachi, has disclosed.
Okpanachi spoke on Friday during the International Women Day celebration at Wuye Ultra Modern Market, Abuja on the theme: “Celebrating the Amazons in the Marketplace – Inspire Inclusion.”
The Executive Director, Finance and Corporate Services, Ijeoma Ozulumba, who represented the MD said out of over N700 billion disbursed by DBN as loans to entrepreneurs about N137 billion went to women and women-owned businesses.
Also, she said the level of non-performing loans (NPLs) from the 60 percent of the total disbursement from Participating Financial Institutions(PFIs) to women was the lowest in the industry.
So far, Ozulumba said, the interventions by PFIs showed that the DBN portfolio recorded the lowest non-performing loans, as there was good recovery rate in the loans advanced to women businesses, while women portfolios are even lower, in terms of default.
“In the number of end-borrowers for our loans, 50 percent have been women,” she explained, adding that the development institution provided support for the SMEs beyond finances with the sole aim of boosting economic growth.
She said specific skills-imparting trainings were also given to women on how they could manage their businesses and keep their books as well as how they could manage their operations, access to market access to networks as well.
Beyond funding, she said DBN undertook a lot of trainings, especially location-specific trainings, stressing that last year, the bank was in the North-East and Northwest to ensure women had access to finance and knowledge to grow their business and to develop their businesses.
