After Access Bank N50bn, another Nigerian bank moves to disburse N137bn to women-owned businesses

The Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) has announced the disbursement of over N7000 billion in loans to entrepreneurs, with N137 billion allocated to women-owned businesses.

According to the bank's Executive Director of Finance and Corporate Services, Ijeoma Ozulumba, about 50% of the loan's end borrowers are women.

DBN provides training for businesswomen

Ozulumba disclosed this during the International Women's Day celebration in Abuja.

She noted that the bank recorded fewer defaults in loan repayment compared to other players in the banking industry.

The DBN director said the bank provides specific training to women on managing their businesses, keeping their books, managing their operations, and having access to networks.

She outlined the bank's effort to support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) beyond financial assistance, including training programmes and grants to scale up their businesses and enhance management effectiveness.

Leadership reports that Ozulumba said the bank collaborates with other financial institutions, which make the funds available to women.

She 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 a good recovery in the loans, and also the women's portfolio is even lower in terms of default."

Access Bank to empower 700,000 businesses

The development comes as one of Nigeria's biggest banks, Access Bank, said it wants to disburse N50 billion to 700,000 businesses in Nigeria.

With an N50 billion loan, Access Bank hopes to empower 700,000 MSMEs nationwide through its 'YouThrive' campaign.

Deputy managing director of Access Bank, Victor Etuokwu, disclosed this at a recent news conference at the bank's Lagos headquarters.

Etuokwu said MSMEs that would benefit from the initiative would receive training to make the best use of the loan, according to BusinessDay.

To be eligible to access this loan, he stressed that all applicants must be between the ages of 21 and 40.