DBN disburses N31.36bn to 35,000 MSMEs in 12 months

Managing Director, Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN), Mr. Tony Okpanachi, Thursday, disclosed that the bank in its first year of operations exceeded its projected performance with a total loan disbursement of N31.36 billion to 35,000 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

This comes as part of strategies to broaden access to credit by MSMEs often regarded as the engine of economic growth.

Presenting a scorecard of the bank’s performance after its first year of operations to the media in Lagos, Okpanachi said that DBN formally commenced lending operations in October 2017 with its first two Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs), (Micro Finance Banks), but that a strong on-boarding exercise carried out within the year under review, saw it currently workig with a total of 29 PFIs, including commercial banks at various stages of engagement.

“Our total disbursement to date stands at N31.364 billion thus exceeding our year-end projection of N30 billion. Total number of end borrowers stands at 35,000 which also exceeded our year-end target of 20,000 MSMEs.

“Women accounted for 73 per cent of the end-borrowers of the DBN loans and received 27 per cent of the total amounts disbursed,” he added.

Spurred by the achievements attained in its first year of operations, Okpanachi hinted that the bank’s disbursement target for 2019 has increased to N70 billion as it would now target helping to deepen its penetration in the MSMEs sector of the economy across the country 

Okpanachi said the impact of this improved access to credit will further propel job creation, strengthen the nation’s GDP growth, alleviate poverty and improve financial inclusion as well as economy diversification. He also said the bank was collaborating with all participating financial institutions to implement  a monitoring and evaluation process over couple of months for more impactful operation in all sectors of the economy.

Meanwhile, the bank has concluded plans to float a subsidiary to handle issuance of guarantees to help further derisk some of the facilities for PFIs. 

He noted that the bank has been recommended for various ISO certifications such as Information Security (ISO 27001); Business Continuity (ISO 22301) and IT Service Management (ISO 20000).

The DBN was set up as a wholesale Development Finance Institution (DFI) to provide sustainable financing through eligible PFIs, who would in turn, lend to end borrowers – MSMEs – for the development of that segment.

With a vision to be Nigeria’s primary DFI promoting growth and sustainability, DBN seeks to fulfil three key mandates which include lending activities to MSMEs, partial credit guarantees and capacity building.