The Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) has announced the disbursement of over N700 billion in loans to entrepreneurs, with N137 billion allocated to women and female-owned businesses.
Executive director of finance and corporate services at DBN, Mrs. Ijeoma Ozulumba, made this known during the International Women’s Day event themed “Celebrating Amazons in the Marketplace” at the Wuye Ultra Modern Market in Abuja.
“Out of the total number of end borrowers for our loans, 50 percent have been women,” Ozulumba stated.
Highlighting the bank’s commitment to reducing default rates, she noted that DBN recorded fewer defaults in loan repayment compared to other players in the banking sector.
“We give specific training on how they can manage their business. How they can keep their books, how they can manage your operations, access to market access to networks as well. So beyond funding, we do a lot of training. We also do a lot of location-specific training,” Ozulumba explained.
She further outlined DBN’s efforts to support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) beyond financial assistance, including training programs and grants aimed at scaling up businesses and enhancing management effectiveness.
“We work through banks, we don’t lend directly to customers. We lend to what we call our participating financial institutions, and these financial institutions then make these funds available to women. 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,” she added.
The event, held at the Wuye Ultra Modern Market, attracted women from diverse backgrounds, including traders, professionals, and both the working and non-working class.
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