Women get 52% of DBN loans

Nduka Chiejina (Assistant Editor)

The Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) has said 52% of the loans it approves have been disbursed to women.

This disclosure was made by the Chief Financial Officer of DBN Ijeoma Ozulumba on Thursday during International Women’s Day celebration in Abuja.

According to her, Nigeria loses a lot by not empowering women and the first step towards empowering women in business is to ensure that formalise their businesses.

By formalising their businesses she argued that women will be able to access financial instruments to scale up their businesses almost for free.

She told the women present that “by formalising your businesses you can access funds from the formal system almost for free. ”

Managing Director of DBN, Mr. Tony Okpanachi said that DBN was interested in women because they “recognize that women are important and critical to ensuring the stability, progress and development of our nation.”

READ ALSO: DBN disburses N100bn to 95,000 MSMEs

He noted that “for any society to flourish, women must be given equal opportunities.”

DBN’s mandate he said “is to alleviate financing constraints faced by the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in Nigeria”

This he said is achieved “through the provision of financing and partial credit guarantees to eligible financial intermediaries on a market conforming and fully financially sustainable basis.”

He lamented that “in Nigeria today, women are still disadvantaged due to limited access to education, which has a ripple effect on earning power and economic opportunities. It’s time to change the narrative for women” he said.

Nigerian women he said have the power to transform the economy “as they have continued to make us proud in different spheres of human endeavour.”