DBN secures €50m funding from AFD to support female entrepreneurs

The Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) has signed an agreement with the French Development Agency (AFD) for a €50 million line of credit to support women-owned businesses in Nigeria.

In a statement on Wednesday, DBN said the fund is aimed at supporting the development of women entrepreneurship, job creation, strengthen access to finance, and enhance the integration of gender within DBN and its partner financial institutions (PFls).

DBN said the agreement also includes an additional technical assistance programme of €825,000.

Tony Okpanachi, managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of DBN, said the facility will upscale the bank’s effort at particularly lifting women businesses from micro to large scale enterprises, with wider implications for the economy.

Okpanachi added that the bank is motivated to negotiate the specialised facility due to the difficulties which Nigerian women businesses face in accessing funds.

He assured that the bank would ensure a good geographical spread of the funds, leveraging its over 70 participating financial institutions (PFIs) across the country.

“DBN is seven years old, but the partnership with AFD has been really strong. And this extra funding is in continuation of that partnership, ” Okpanachi said.

“Women entrepreneurs play a very strong role in DBN’s focus areas based on the belief that empowering them would positively impact the nation due to the catalytic effect.

“This is huge and I must commend the French and AFD for this additional support.”

On his part, Xavier Muron, country director of AFD, said women entrepreneurship is not only a question of social justice but also a strategic priority to build a more inclusive and resilient society.

“We, indeed, believe that the economic empowerment of women is key to achieve some Sustainable Development Goals and that the future of local and global economies depends on the real inclusion of Women in the economic life,” Muron said.

“This is why together, we must make women entrepreneurship not an exception, but a norm, and allow every woman to exploit her full potential.

“This is why it was important for AFD to complement the credit line with a technical assistance and capacity building program addressing these specific concerns, targeting not only the financial institutions but also the end beneficiaries.”

Muron also said DBN was the strategic partner to drive the transformative gender agenda within the financial sector in Nigeria and support the financing of women MSMEs.