• Attained N645bn disbursement in 2025, funded 25% of manufacturing GDP, 6.5% agriculture lending
Dike Onwuamaeze
Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Bank of Industry (BOI), Dr. Olasupo Olusi, has announced that the bank is targeting an annual loan disbursement of N1.35 trillion to manufacturers and operators in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in 2027.
Olusi also said the bank was exploring various sources of capital that would enable it to grant real long-term loans of about 10-year tenure to manufacturers and other businesses. He stated these yesterday during the “MD/CEO BOI Meeting with Media Partners.”
He said the bank disbursed N645 billion in 2025, which was the highest disbursement it had ever achieved.
He also elaborated on BOI’s 2025-2027 corporate strategy that was being executed in three phases.
Olusi said 2025 was “our foundation year, where we put in place the governance, the frameworks, the products and digital tools, while 2026 was the year of execution and scale, and 2027 will be the year we consolidate our results and meet our targets.
He said the bank was currently at the mid-point of the strategy implementation, adding that the results so far tell that the strategy is working.
He said BOI accounted for 6.5 per cent agricultural loans and 25 per cent of the manufacturing GDP.
Olusi stated, “The results so far tell us that the strategy is working. In 2025, we disbursed N645 billion, which is the highest ever disbursement by the bank. This represents a 26 per cent increase on N510 billion we disbursed in 2024.
“And our financing has reached 12,500 more businesses and helped to create or support 1.6 million jobs.
“We disbursed over N120 billion to women-owned businesses, which again shows how much we are committed to delivering on our strategy to enhance opportunities for gender.
“We are also on track across our thematic areas. MSMEs received over 41 per cent of our 2025 funding, even against our 35 per cent target. “Youths and women received 20 per cent each against our 15 per cent and 10 per cent minimum commitment, respectively.
Olusi explained, “In infrastructure, we recorded N108 billion funding, including 100 mini-grids to power businesses and households, as well as broadband internet connectivity to over 700 communities.
“We also achieved our disbursement targets for climate and social financing.”
He stated that the bank embarked on a number of landmark capital raising activities that enabled it to deliver its disbursement targets.
The capital raising activities included a landmark deal of nearly €2 billion (Euros), raised from three international banks, and in 2026, BOI was able to get five commitments from the African Export and Import Bank for a €75 million facility to support the Pharmaceutical Value Chain (PIVAC) in Nigeria.
He stated, “Together, we have done more than €2.2 billion and N274 billion in new funding for Nigerian industries.
“Investors have placed their money with us because they trust our governance, our pipeline, our impact and our financial results.
“We are already advancing new capital raising engagements with quite a number of international partners, including the likes of the African Development Bank, the Agence Française de Dévelopment and also pursuing further fundraising opportunities that are available within our domestic capital markets.
“We have also expanded our financing toolkits with a non-interest banking products, which will enable us to promote financial inclusion and widen the range of financing structures available for eligible businesses who have interests in non-interest banking.”
The CEO recounted that in the course of the last couple of years, the bank had managed the federal government’s N200 billion grants and loans intervention programme to the enterprise sector.
He said the N75 billion MSME intervention funds and N75 billion manufacturing sector funds that were disbursed by BOI had delivered results.
Olusi said, “We delivered more than 85 per cent of all these funds, reaching 957,400 grant beneficiaries, 9,000 MSMEs, and 104 large manufacturers across the country.
“Through our Rural Area Program Investment for Development (RAPID) program, we have disbursed over N6.5 billion to nearly 1,000 rural enterprises across all 36 states and FCT of the country, supporting more than 8,000 jobs.
“We have financed more than 100 mini-grids that have connected 11,000 households and businesses to electricity, many of them for the first time.”
According to him, BOI’s strategy is dedicated to raising long term capital at a scale that would match Nigeria’s unending industrialisation needs, widening its reach to underserved segments of the economy, particularly MSMEs, women, young people, and rural enterprises.
He said BOI’s target was to ensure that 35 per cent of its loans went to MSMEs, while lending to infrastructure and women-owned businesses accounted for 30 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively, of the bank’s loan book.
He added that the bank would allocate 10 per cent and 15 per cent of its credit to digital and climate enterprises, respectively, while youth-owned enterprises will command 20 per cent of credits to MSMEs.
Olusi stated, “Infrastructure remains a big pain on our economic development, so we have dedicated a large chunk of our finance, around 35 per cent for all of our large credits to finance infrastructure.
“Women owned businesses are one of the most underserved in Nigeria. So, we have decided that we will direct at least 15 per cent of our financing to them under our strategy.
“We have targeted 20 per cent of our MSMEs disbursement to youth owned businesses.”
He said, “We are providing about 10 per cent of our entire portfolio to climate and sustainability. We want to finance clean energy, climate resilience investments, and of course the circular economy.
“On the digital front, we are very committed also to financing technology-led businesses and digitisation of Nigerian enterprises by committing 15 per cent of our disbursement to the sector.”