DBN Targets MSMEs With N70bn Loans In 2019

The Development Bank of Nigeria says it has set a target to disburse loans worth N70bn to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in 2019.

The Managing Director, DBN, Mr Tony Okpanachi, said on Thursday that the bank, in its first year of operations, exceeded its projected loan performance by 4.53 per cent.

He said the bank, which set a target of N30bn in 2018, disbursed N31.36bn to 35,000 MSMEs.

Okpanachi, while presenting a scorecard of the bank’s performance in its first year of operations, stated that the bank formally commenced lending operations in October 2017.

He stated that the bank’s first two participating financial institutions, which were micro-finance banks, were the first beneficiaries, adding that the bank currently had 29 PFIs, which included commercial banks at various stages of engagement.

He said, “Our total disbursement-to-date stands at N31.364bn, thus exceeding our year-end projection of N30bn. The total number of end borrowers stands at 35,000, which also exceeded our year-end target of 20,000 MSMEs.

“Women accounted for 73 per cent of the end-borrowers of the DBN loans and received 27 per cent of the total amounts disbursed.

“The bank has thus increased its disbursement target for the year 2019 to N70bn to deepen the bank’s penetration in the MSMEs sector of the economy.”

According to Okpanachi, the bank has been recommended for various ISO certifications such as information security- ISO 27001, business continuity – ISO 22301 and information technology service management – ISO 20000.