Gilbert Ekugbe
The Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) has restated its commitment towards supporting Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria.
The bank stated that the move is a clear demonstration to MSMEs considering its role in creating wealth and job opportunities for the nation’s teeming unemployed youths.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, DBN, Plc, Dr Tony Okpanachi, at the second edition of its Techpreneur Summit, disclosed that the Techpreneur Summit was set up as a veritable platform which further underscores DBN’s commitment and support for MSMEs and to accelerate their growth.
“The DBN Techpreneur Summit serves as a melting point of ideas and innovation to accelerate the growth of MSMEs in Nigeria, and it affirms commitment to our core mandate as a wholesome bank dedicated to the MSMEs sector. This summit also underscores the well-established fact of our commitment to continue to advocate for MSMEs. Therefore, we must continue to forge sustainable alliances that foster business sustainability as we seek more innovative ways to support small businesses to thrive,” Okpanachi stated.
The event also featured tech innovators, entrepreneurs, financial experts, and business growth strategists with experts and stakeholders advocating for increased leverage of digital innovation, financial inclusion, and sustainable partnerships to accelerate the growth of MSMEs in Nigeria.
He said by enabling MSMEs to access funding on non-commercial terms, DBN has been at the forefront of promoting financial inclusion for small businesses as a larger number of them are excluded by the traditional financial institutions due to stringent conditions attached to accessing credit facilities.
The guest speaker in his modified topic, “Pursuing Great Purpose, Sustainable Impact and Partnerships for Tech Businesses”, asserted that the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Naira design and cash swap in the first quarter of the year made it more imperative for MSMEs to embrace technology and innovation for their systems, product design, marketing, and transactions.
Akanmu, who noted that the socio-economic parity index still showed a wide gap between the rich and the poor, stated that the potential for small and mid-sized businesses to play a key role in bridging the gap was very huge if the right environment was created for MSMEs to grow sustainably.
He described as unhealthy the present ecosystem of fintechs and financial institutions focusing largely on commercial businesses and concentrating on cities to the exclusion of sectors that could impact real growth such as MSMEs and the unserved populations in rural communities, urging them to widen their social impact.
