BY ABUBAKAR YUSUF
The unusual and extraordinary attention towards women folk by the Development Bank of Nigeria, DBN has taking a positive and a new toll in view of the additional strides to get more funding from the global angle.
Aside the special attention and normal funding to improve women emancipation, their activities and programs through MSMEs, another round of funding with more global attractions and package which included the $50m credit line, $8m Agri-food facility, and $3m technical grant was a pointer to advancing womanhood in the current dispensation under the management of Dr Tony Okpanachi.
The $61M loan which came as a big relieve to women gender activities was to bridge the multi-billion dollar credit gap facing female entrepreneurs in Nigeria at large,
Development Bank of Nigeria DBN securing a $61 million , equivalent to ₦87 billion financing package from the African Development Bank AfDB geared towards ensuring a lasting solutions to myriad of women engagements in Nigeria.
This was in addition to the routine and annual engagement which prioritized women activities in all ramifications to address and enhanced a permanent solutions.
Though , 95% of total facility was earmarked for female entrepreneurs in Agriculture, Health, and Energy, which s capable of diversifying the activities of women across the country, away from the normal ones , to the abnormal ones interms of engagements and businesses.
The grand partnership consumated was specifically geared towards departung and dismantling the systemic routine that limited access to capital for women-owned and women-led Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises MSMEs, across the federation, observed by the management and operators of DBN under Dr Tony Okpanachi.
The availement structured into three specialized tiers to ensure maximum impact across the value chain was to consolidate and improved from the usual order .
With the lion’s share, a $50 million gender-focused line of credit, that will be deployed for direct lending, bolstered by an $8 million concessional facility under the Agri-Food SME Catalytic Financing Mechanism and a $3 million grant supported by the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa AFAWA initiative—a program backed by the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative, We-Fi.
Conversely and in line with the operational template, , the African Development Bank AfDB contemplated over 95 per cent of the total financing strictly earmarked for women-led businesses across the country.
The innovations targeting high-impact sectors in line with the new order and template, which included agriculture, clean energy, and healthcare, are considered the backbones of Nigeria’s local economy and obtainable across the globe in accordance with the best practices .
The funds meant to be channeled through its extensive network of Participating Financial Institutions PFIs, through commercial banks and microfinance institutions is expected to on-lend to eligible MSMEs, with combination of the long-term capital with partial credit guarantees and technical assistance to ensure business sustainability in line with the requirements.
The moves by DBN has designed as a lasting solutions to women emancipation, away from the old order, noting that MSMEs contributed nearly 50% of Nigeria’s GDP, women-led businesses with higher interest rates and more strictest collaterals.
To also improves training amd retraining, the chunk of $3 million grant component will be deployed into to providing and guaranteeing “soft landing” to helping female entrepreneurs embark on their operations from subsistence levels to competitive enterprises with indepth capacity building.
According to observers and experts “Women entrepreneurs is critical but significantly under-served segment of the Nigerian economy,”
“This operation reflects the African Development Bank’s commitment to unlocking economic opportunities for women by working through the DBN, we are not just expanding access to credit; we are investing in the engine of Nigeria’s inclusive economic transformation”. They said.
The gender investment accordingly , AfDB Director-General, Kamara stated ‘We are investing in the engine of Nigeria’s economic transformation and further stated with emphasis, that the initiative is about more than just providing loans; it is about economic inclusion of the women folk.
DBN having attained this feat, aimed to improving private sector-led growth, ensuring that the next generation of Nigerian female business leaders has the financial backing to compete on a global stage.
This was also the result of the age long relationship between DBN and AfDB with annual, intermittent presence and interactions in all its meeting, convening of both bilateral and tripartite discussions and resolutions geared towards human development and economic freedom.
Written BY ABUBAKAR YUSUF on yus.abubakar3@gmail.com.
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