AfDB Intervention In Nigeria Created 440,000  – President

The African Development Bank (AfDB) says its interventions have contributed to the creation of more than 440,000 jobs in Nigeria, with women and youths accounting for 60 per cent.
The President of AfDB, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina disclosed this in Lagos in a recent SMEs conference.
Adesina, who was represented by Mr Lamin Barrow, Director-General of the Nigeria Country Department of AfDB,  said the bank had supported more than 20,500 MSMEs, with about eight LOCs targeting SMEs valued at 1.1 billion dollars.
According to him, the bank has also inaugurated the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA).
“This is a flagship initiative to close the 42 billion dollar access to finance gap for women led and owned SMEs.
“Through AFAWA, the bank will facilitate up to five billion dollars in credit access to women SMEs by 2026.
“To date, more than 800 million dollars in investments has been approved for on-lending to 3,000 women SMEs in 23 African countries, including Nigeria.’’
Adesina said the initiatives were part of the bank’s effort to support African countries in modernising their business enabling environments for MSMEs to thrive.
According to him, access to finances by MSMEs will be done through equity participation and debt financing for regional development banks and specialised financial institutions.
“In line with the Private Sector Development Strategy (2021-2025) Pillar on Enterprise Development, our lines of credit interventions are increasing.
“They are more targeted to support the development of regional value chains and clusters with strong linkages to MSMEs through off-taker and others to de-risk the eco-system.
“Our Africa SMEs programme will channel 150 million dollars funding to SMEs across Africa to enhance financial inclusion while also addressing barriers to SMEs funding”, he said.
Adesina said besides ensuring access to finance, the bank was implementing three flagship programmes to support the venture capital industry in Africa.
“The Boost Africa Programme, a 170 million Euro facility is being implemented in partnership with the European Commission and European Investment Bank.
“This 50 million Euro programme seeks to support social entrepreneurs to provide solutions for the local communities, often related to better and affordable access to finance, health, education among others”, he added.