Mr. Tony Okpanachi, Managing Director (MD) of the Development Bank of Nigeria Plc (DBN), has stated that providing financial access to Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country is critical for economic growth.
He was quoted as saying that with 17.4 million MSMEs contributing 48 percent of the nation’s GDP in the last five years, providing 50 percent of industrial jobs and nearly 90 percent of the manufacturing sector, the sub-sector could not be ignored.
According to the bank, in a statement issued 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 through poverty alleviation, job creation, and wealth creation.”
“It has become critical for us to pool resources and direct collaborative efforts toward building the capacity of the MSMSE in order to revitalize their operations and address the challenge of access to finance.”
“This will ensure their growth and boost the economic potentials of this critical sub-sector.”
Mr. Okopanachi noted that, while the MSME sector has grown significantly, there is still much work to be done.
According to him, the challenges faced by the sub-sector included obtaining finance, finding customers, and infrastructure deficits, and he added, “It is therefore 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 stated that his organization would continue to build capacity among operators in the country’s MSMEs sub-sector.
In his keynote address, Alhaji Tajudeen Dantata, CEO of Dantata Foods, praised the DBN and its Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs) for their roles in providing sustainable MSMEs financing in the country.
He emphasized that this will complement the efforts of the Central Bank of Nigeria in this regard.
OTHER NEWS
