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The Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) Plc has disbursed a cumulative ₦1.4 trillion to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) through 84 Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs), creating about 1.6 million jobs nationwide.
Its Managing Director/CEO, Dr Tony Okpanachi, disclosed this in Abuja Thursday, at the seventh DBN Annual Lecture, themed “From Policy to Prosperity: Translating Economic Reforms into MSME Growth.”
He said: “I am pleased to report that, as at December 2025, DBN had disbursed a cumulative ₦1.4 trillion to MSMEs through 84 Participating Financial Institutions, and created about 1.6 million jobs across the country. These are more than figures.”
Okpanachi said the bank’s new five-year strategy aims to reach more than two million MSMEs, with deliberate targets for women-led businesses, youth-led businesses and underserved states.
He said the central question had shifted from the reforms themselves to who benefits. “The major reforms are now in place. How do we make sure their benefits reach the trader in Onitsha, the fabricator in Aba, the farmer in Kebbi and the young founder in Yaba?” he asked.
He cited a national survey by the National Bureau of Statistics and SMEDAN showing that MSMEs account for close to half of Nigeria’s GDP and more than eight in every ten jobs.
“When reform works for MSMEs, it works for most Nigerians,” he said.
DBN works as a wholesale lender through commercial, merchant and microfinance banks. It provides longer-term funding for on-lending, partial credit guarantees through its subsidiary, Impact Credit Guarantee Limited, and capacity building, including its Entrepreneurship Training Programme.
At the event, DBN launched DAWN: DBN Action for Women in Nigeria, unveiled its Impact Report and presented its MSME Data Assets, an open data resource on Nigerian MSMEs.
DAWN combines financing, guarantees, technical assistance, outcome-linked grants and market linkages. It will reach women-led businesses through banks, microfinance institutions, fintechs, aggregators, cooperatives and direct channels. Its priority sectors are agriculture and exports, healthcare, arts and creatives, technology, and green business.
“DAWN is about moving gender-focused lending beyond intention and turning access into opportunity,” Okpanachi said.
He urged PFIs to extend lending to sectors and states where access to finance has been limited.
He urged policymakers and regulators to “measure reform by what changes for the business at the end of the chain,” and MSMEs to formalise, keep good records and use available support.
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