BY ABUBAKAR YUSUF
For Development Bank of Nigeria, DBN , the quest to distance Nigerians from hardship and difficult circumstances through the application of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises MSME’s is unwavering, coming at a time when Nigeria and Nigerians under the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration is undergoing total restructuring in all areas of our national life , both economic, social , political and other areas.
Since MSME’s is the bane and driver of modern economies, Nigeria cannot be left behind in that regard, hence efforts by the current management of Development Bank of Nigeria, DBN,under the leadership of Dr Tony Okpanachi as the Managing Director, remained undeterred, focused and determined to take Nigerians from the doldrums of poverty.
With Okpanachi on the driver’s seat over the years at DBN, having revolutionized the process and management of MSME’s in Nigeria with adequate ,b and availement, no doubt , Small and Medium Enterprises SME’s hass achieved it’s crescendo in the current dispensation.
Having disbursed over One Trillion to about 700,000 businesses across the country, working through the 79 participating financial institutions, with more in the pipeline , the global Bank with domesticated policies and programs as well as it’s operations in the country has taken the country to the seamlessly, as it is operated in the developed countries.
Inspite the teething problems and innuendos bedeviling the operationalization of MSME’s across board , with Okpanachi on the driver’s seat at DBN, the time tested period will be overcome through the application of MSME’s.
While describing the current period has instilled a “new dawn and hope,” citing the wisdom of DBN handlers,several government initiatives, including the inauguration of the National Council on MSMEs, which is tasked with policy formulation, fostering Public-Private Partnerships, PPP, and promoting inter-agency collaborations.
With the current leadership at DBN under Dr Tony Okpanachi and his management team, their is high hopes and optimism about the resilience of small businesses,
“Nigerian MSMEs, with it’s resilient, creative, and adaptive status, can rise stronger, provided we equip them with the right tools, access to finance, knowledge, and enabling policies.”
“The destiny of Nigeria’s economy is intertwined with the success of its small businesses. When they thrive, we all thrive.”. Okpanachi opined during a parley.”
With 74 per cent of the beneficiaries of its financial interventions mostly women, while 25 per cent are youths and with high priority on human capacity development, The Bank has trained more than 9,500 MSMEs across Nigeria, this is inline with high regards for capacity building.
In the area of “Technical Assistance Programme”, TAP, it has supported 20 participating financial institutions to improve their ability to lend to MSMEs, with over 711,000 MSME’s beneficiaries recorded.
This also led to the creation of more than 1.2 Million jobs, through various interventions since inception.
DBN also supported more than 69,000 MSME’s operating in economically disadvantaged states such as Borno, Yobe, Katsina, Zamfara, and Adamawa all in the North.
With DBN and it’s area of operation, going forward, Looking, the bank planned to grow loans outstanding to N1tn, catalyse two million jobs, support two million MSMEs, and increase green financing loans to N75bn–N100bn over the next five years, under the leadership of Dr Tony Okpanachi as the Managing Director.
Written BY ABUBAKAR YUSUF on yus.abubakar3@gmail.com. .
