Wema Bank, SMEDAN Partner to Empower 800,000 Businesses

Wema Bank has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) to empower 800,000 Nigerian businesses.

The partnership with Wema Bank is focused on training MSMEs on soft skills, technical skills, and business skills, empowering them to build profitable businesses, gain more visibility and scale sustainably.

To execute the initiative, which will take course over the next 12 to 18 months, Wema Bank will provide the training and resources for the 800,000 businesses which will be curated by SMEDAN, a statement from Wema Bank said.

Speaking on the partnership, Wema Bank’s MD/CEO, Moruf Oseni said, “Over the past eight decades, Wema Bank has been driving this lifelong mission of empowering Nigerians with access to finance, constantly reinventing to develop more efficient ways of delivering value to the people. One cardinal thing that we haven’t deviated from is that we are fully committed to empowering entrepreneurs and small businesses in Nigeria.

“The petty traders we provided for in the 1900s are the entrepreneurs and MSMEs that we continue to empower in the 2000s, and we will never relent in fulfilling this promise. So, MSME empowerment for us is not just a buzzword. It is what we have always done, what we are doing through this partnership with SMEDAN and what we will continue to do beyond 80 years.”

Director-General of SMEDAN, Charles Odili, expressed confidence in the success of the partnership with Wema Bank towards building a sustainably successful future for Nigerian MSMEs.