Mr. Tony Okpanachi, Managing Director (MD) of the Development Bank of Nigeria Plc (DBN), has stated that providing financial access for the country’s Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) is critical for economic growth.
He was quoted as saying that with approximately 17.4 million MSMEs contributing 48 percent of the nation’s GDP in the last five years, providing approximately 50 percent of industrial jobs, and accounting for nearly 90 percent of the manufacturing sector, the sub-sector could not be ignored.
According to a statement released by the bank yesterday, the MD told operators at a recently concluded MSMEs summit in Kano, “The summit is one of DBN’s stakeholder engagement strategies aimed at creating awareness around our mandate of providing access to finance, capacity building, and partial credit guarantees to MSMEs in Nigeria.”
“This is significant because they play a critical role in accelerating economic growth by alleviating poverty, creating jobs, and creating wealth.”
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“It has become critical for us to pool resources and direct collaborative efforts toward strengthening the MSMSE’s capacity in order to revitalize their operations and address the challenge of access to finance.”
“This will ensure their growth and increase the economic potential of this critical subsector.”
Mr. Okopanachi stated that, despite significant growth in the MSME sector, there was still much work to be done.
According to him, challenges faced by the sub-sector included obtaining finance, finding customers, and infrastructure deficits, and he added, “It is thus pertinent for us as a Bank to champion the conversation on how MSMEs can win despite these challenges, by exposing ways through which MSMEs can benefit from our sustainable financial offerings.”
In addition to providing access to finance, the DBN CEO promised that his organization would continue to build capacity among operators in the country’s MSMEs sub-sector.
Alhaji Tajudeen Dantata, the CEO of Dantata Foods, praised the DBN and its Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs) in his keynote address for their roles in providing sustainable MSMEs financing in the country.
He emphasized that this will supplement the Central Bank of Nigeria’s efforts in this regard.
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