The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group has approved a $61 million financing package for the Development Bank of Nigeria to expand access to affordable credit for women-owned and women-led businesses in Nigeria, with a strong focus on the agricultural sector.
The approval, granted on April 29, includes a $50 million gender-focused line of credit, an $8 million concessional facility under the Agri-Food SME Catalytic Financing Mechanism (ACFM), and a $3 million grant under the Bank’s Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) initiative funded by the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi).
According to the AfDB, the financing package is designed to strengthen lending to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) through DBN’s network of participating financial institutions, while promoting inclusive economic growth and women entrepreneurship.
The Bank said the intervention combines long-term financing, concessional resources, partial credit guarantees and capacity-building support to improve access to finance for underserved businesses.
A major highlight of the package is its gender-focused structure, with more than 95 per cent of the total financing targeted at women-owned and women-led small and medium enterprises (WSMEs).
The AfDB said the initiative aligns with the objectives of both AFAWA and ACFM, while supporting broader efforts to reduce the gender financing gap across Africa.
The Bank added that performance-based incentives under the AFAWA programme are expected to increase the number of eligible women-owned enterprises and expand the share of women-focused lending within DBN’s MSME portfolio.
Commenting on the approval, Director General of the AfDB Nigeria Country Office, Abdul Kamara, described women entrepreneurs as one of Nigeria’s most valuable but underutilised economic assets.
“Women entrepreneurs are one of Nigeria’s greatest economic assets and one of its most underleveraged. This operation reflects the African Development Bank’s commitment to unlocking economic opportunities for women,” Kamara said.
“By working through DBN to reach women-owned businesses in agriculture, clean energy, healthcare, and beyond, we are not just expanding access to credit; the Bank is investing in the engine of Nigeria’s inclusive economic transformation,” he added.
The latest approval further strengthens the longstanding partnership between the AfDB and DBN, which dates back to the Bank’s support for DBN’s establishment through start-up equity financing, long-term funding and governance support alongside the Federal Government of Nigeria and other development partners.
The operation also aligns with the AfDB’s Ten-Year Strategy (2024–2033) and Nigeria’s Country Strategy Paper (2025–2030), both of which prioritise inclusive growth, private sector development, gender equality and youth-inclusive green growth.
