The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group has approved a $61 million financing package to support women-owned and women-led businesses in Nigeria, with major attention on agriculture, clean energy, healthcare and other underserved sectors.
The funding, approved through the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN), is expected to improve access to affordable loans for thousands of Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) across the country, especially businesses run by women that continue to face difficulties accessing credit from commercial banks.
According to a statement released by the AfDB on Thursday, the financing package 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 Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) initiative funded by the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi).
The bank said more than 95 per cent of the financing has been reserved for women-owned and women-led businesses, showing growing efforts by development finance institutions to close the financing gap affecting female entrepreneurs in Nigeria and across Africa.
The funding will be disbursed through DBN’s participating financial institutions, which will provide loans and support services to eligible MSMEs operating in different sectors of the economy.
AfDB explained that the intervention will combine long-term financing, concessional funding, partial credit guarantees and technical assistance to help reduce barriers preventing women-led businesses from accessing affordable credit.
Speaking on the development, the Director General of AfDB’s 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,” 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.”
Access to financing remains one of the biggest challenges facing small businesses in Nigeria, especially those owned by women. Many entrepreneurs continue to struggle with high lending rates, strict collateral requirements and limited access to formal banking services.
Commercial banks in Nigeria have maintained high lending rates following the country’s tight monetary policy environment, making loans difficult for many small businesses to obtain and repay.
Development finance institutions have increasingly introduced targeted intervention programmes and risk-sharing facilities aimed at supporting women-led enterprises that are often excluded from traditional financing systems.
AfDB said performance-based incentives attached to the AFAWA programme are expected to increase the number of women-owned businesses that qualify for financing while also expanding women-focused lending within DBN’s MSME portfolio.
The latest approval also strengthens the existing partnership between AfDB and DBN. The continental lender previously supported the establishment of DBN through equity investments, governance support and long-term financing alongside the Nigerian government and other development partners.
Nigeria has continued to push for stronger financial inclusion and increased support for MSMEs as the country seeks to diversify its economy beyond oil, reduce unemployment and tackle poverty.
AfDB said the financing package aligns with its 10-year strategy for inclusive growth and private sector development, as well as Nigeria’s 2025–2030 country strategy focused on gender-inclusive and green economic growth.
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