By Dipo Olowookere
The SME Finance Forum now has a new member and it is the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN), a company established by the federal government in collaboration with global development partners to address the major financing challenges facing Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria.
The SME Finance Forum is a global membership network that brings together financial institutions, technology companies, and development finance institutions to share knowledge, spur innovation, and promote the growth of SMEs.
It was established by the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) in 2012 as a knowledge centre for data, research and best practice in promoting SME finance. As an implementing partner for the GPFI, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) was tasked with managing the initiative.
Accepting DBN into the Forum, Chief Executive Officer of SME Finance Forum, Mr Matthew Gamser, said, “We are proud to have the Development Bank of Nigeria join our network of 140 members who work to expand access to finance for small and medium businesses. It has been discovered that 200 million businesses worldwide need financing to invest, grow and create new jobs.”
“Founded in 2014, DBN focuses on alleviating financing constraints faced by MSMEs and small corporations in Nigeria through the provision of financing and partial credit guarantees to eligible financial intermediaries, on a market-conforming and fully financially sustainable basis.
“The bank supports inclusive growth and provides wholesale funding to fill identified enterprise financing gaps in the MSME sector. In 2017, the bank disbursed a total of N5bn to microfinance institutions for on-lending to over 20,000 MSMEs across the country”, Gamser noted.
Expressing delight on the announcement of DBN’s reception into the forum, Managing Director/CEO of Development Bank of Nigeria, Mr Tony Okpanachi, said, “We are excited to expand our knowledge of SME financing and believe participation in the SME Finance Forum member working groups will afford us with a plethora of networking and developmental opportunities.”
Business Post reports that DBN is a wholesale Development Finance Institution (DFI) providing sustainable financing through eligible Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs), who in turn, lend to end-borrowers – Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) for the development of that segment.
Modupe Gbadeyanka 
Aduragbemi Omiyale