Tony Okpanachi, managing director and chief executive officer, disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja during the presentation of the bank’s 2025 financial statement at its 9th Annual General Meeting (AGM).

Okpanachi said that DBN disbursed over N300 billion to MSMEs in 2025 alone, reaching more than 180,000 businesses nationwide.

He added that the bank’s focus goes beyond loan disbursement to ensuring that funds reach intended beneficiaries and translate into measurable business growth and job creation.

He explained that DBN operates an indirect lending model, partnering with commercial and microfinance banks that bear the credit risk and set lending rates for beneficiaries.

According to him, the bank also strengthened its capacity-building initiatives, training more than 48,000 MSMEs in 2025 on best business practices and improving their access to finance.

Okpanachi emphasised that capacity development remains central to DBN’s strategy, noting that equipping small businesses with the right skills is critical for sustainability and long-term growth.

He said the bank remains committed to deepening support for the MSME sector by combining financial assistance with technical knowledge to enhance productivity and economic impact.

Meanwhile, shareholders of the bank approved a dividend payout of N8.5 billion, representing 85 kobo per share. The payout aligns with the bank’s dividend policy, which caps the payout ratio at 25 per cent.

The DBN Techpreneur Summit 2024 seeks to promote and showcase investor-ready technology innovations within Nigeria’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, while providing access to a pipeline of investors and subsequently funding to qualified techprenuers.

The theme for the DBN Techpreneur Summit 2024 is, ‘Catalyzing Tech Innovation: Empowering Entrepreneurs for Regenerative Growth.’

There were over 100 tech companies on the longlist of entries received for the pitch at the expiration of the timeline for submission of ideas.

Over the weekend, a panel of evaluators consisting of respected industry leaders held the pre-selection session to assess each submitted entry in line with the criteria and guidelines set for the participating innovators.

At the end of the pre-screening, a total of 20 tech innovators drawn from across fintech, health tech, transport, IOT and other segments scaled the hurdles to the final pitch stage.

Commenting on the significance of the pre-selection process, Managing Director/CEO, Development Bank of Nigeria, Dr. Tony Okpanachi, said it was a very important stage to narrow the space for the best among equals to be determined, adding that it was also a cost and time-saving mechanism for both the innovators and evaluators.

He said pre-selection is an opportunity for innovators to enhance their chances of success in the pitch competition.

Dr. Okpanachi stated further:

“Pre-selection of innovators provides feedback on the viability and potential of the innovation, and enhances the innovator’s pitch and overall chances. It boosts confidence for the competing teams. Streamlining the selection process also reduces stress and anxiety for innovators that make the shortlist, thereby helping them to focus on the best ways to achieve success at the pitch and in their presentation.’’

The DBN chief affirmed that by supporting MSMEs and tech innovators to grow and scale up, the Development Bank of Nigeria plays a pivotal role in unlocking the potential of micro and medium enterprises, as well as the tech industry in Nigeria and empowering them to contribute significantly to the real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth.

The Bank, he noted, also contributes significantly by driving inclusive economic growth and improved quality of lives for Nigerians.

Affirming the importance of the screening session, Managing Director of Addium Capital, Mrs. Comfort Aruosa-Osemwegie, stated that it was aimed at making the tech founders ready for potential investors, who will also be attending this year’s Techpreneur Summit.

She disclosed that through a partnership between DBN and Addium, a private equity and venture capital firm, an exclusive Deal Room will hold within the summit and it will serve as a platform for techpreneurs to meet with potential investors directly.

“On the 10^th of July, tech founders will have access to at least 50 curated investors during the summit. We are curating the summit in unique ways whereby the tech startups can sit with prospective investors that are coming to the event. This was the reason we had the pre-screening on 29^th of June. We had hundreds of startup founders pre-screened. The idea is, we wanted to ensure they are investors-ready; so, when we bring them to investors on the 10^th of July, we are bringing in deals. We call them deals or startups that actually are ready for investment. We took the proposals through screening to ensure we pick or get to find the best fit for the investors we are bringing in,’’ Aruosa-Osemwegie said.

Aruosa-Osemwegie added that the partnership with Development Bank of Nigeria was also designed to position Techpreneur Summit as the “go-to’’ event for investor engagement and closing deals.

She enthused:

“We want to see a situation when you think fundraising and meeting with investors, cutting the time of deal sourcing, origination and closure, Techpreneur Summit is the place to go, both for Nigerian investors and foreign investors, as well as techpreneurs across Africa. I am seeing a situation where it becomes like a tourist attraction, the main deals arena for techpreneurs. When you want to meet with investors in Africa, come to DBN Techpreneur Summit.’’

Okpanachi made the disclosure during this year’s International Women Day held at Wuye Ultra-Modern Market in Abuja, with the theme “Celebrating the Amazons in the Market Place – Inspire Inclusion”.

He also said: “Despite enjoying this lion share of disbursed funds, statistics from the Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs) indicate that Non-Performing loans (NPLs) from disbursement to women remains the lowest within the industry”.

Okpanachi, represented at the occasion by Mrs Ijeoma Ozulumba, the executive director, Finance and Corporate Services at DBN, applauded Nigerian women as great entrepreneurs and faithful customers in loans’ repayment within the SMEs sector.

According to the DBN’s Chief Executive;

“So far from the intervention that we’ve seen, our banks have reported to us that our portfolio has the lowest Non Performing Loans (NPLs). There’s good recovery in the Loans and also women portfolio is even lower in terms of default”.

He said the bank has so far disbursed over 700 billion Naira as loans to entrepreneurs with about 137 billion Naira to women and women owned businesses, adding; “In the number of end borrowers for our loans, 50 percent have been women”

Additionally, the development institution has provided support for the SMEs “beyond finances with the sole aim of boosting economic growth”, Okpanachi said, while noting that women have also enjoyed specific trainings on how they can manage their business and keep their books; how they can manage their operations; as well as access to market networks

He said beyond funding, DBN does a lot of training, especially location specific training, stressing that last year, the bank was in the North East and Northwest to ensure women have access to finance; and access to knowledge to grow and develop their businesses.

The DBN boss described the various measures taken by the institution towards empowering Nigerian women as “very important” in the efforts to drive development and growth in the nation’s SMEs sector.

The Bank bagged the following strategic awards; “Platinum Service Ambassador”; “Bank with the Highest impact on Women Issues”, and “Bank with the Highest impact on MSMEs Accessing Credit for the first time”.

The DBN Ambassadors Programme was designed to increase the sense of ownership among participating financial institutions, build capacity, increase on-lending to Micro, Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (MSMEs) and ultimately deepen financial inclusion in Nigeria. Ecobank is a participating financial institution in partnership with DBN to provide credit facilities, credit guarantee and technical support to MSMEs.

Receiving the awards at the event, Carol Oyedeji, Deputy Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria,  said this a testament to the bank’s commitment to supporting and empowering women owned businesses and assisting small businesses to access loans conveniently at cheaper interest rates for the development of the overall MSME subsector.

Ecobank had the highest volume and value of transactions in these award categories

She reiterated that, Ecobank remains a women-friendly bank with many initiatives and innovative products targeted at empowering and sustaining female entrepreneurs in Africa such as ‘Ellevate’ and ‘Ecobank Female Entrepreneurs Initiative (EFEI)’, which are designed to empower and support female entrepreneurs.

Mrs. Oyedeji noted that Ecobank recently signed a USD200 million risk-sharing agreement with African Guarantee Fund (AGF), a specialized pan-African guarantee provider, stressing that it is aimed at catalyzing economic growth and supporting entrepreneurial ventures – including women-owned SMEs on the continent.

“Through this partnership, both organisations are taking bold steps to enhance green financing and gender financing. It would eliminate the rigorous and restrictive requirements for collateral, particularly hindering women-focused businesses’ access to credit.”

According to her, “We have both financial and social empowerment initiatives for female entrepreneurs because we recognise women as the bedrock of most families and entrepreneurship in the society.  We aim to eliminate the rigorous and restrictive requirements for collateral, hindering access to credit.”

In his welcome address, Tony Okpanachi, managing director, DBN, saluted the awardees, stating that their collaboration and commitment is impacting positively on the sustainable growth of the MSME sub-sector of the economy.

According to him, “your unwavering commitment to forging a lasting impact on the MSMEs through our collaboration is a testament to your dedication to fueling sustainable growth. The true essence of the DBN Awards shines through a celebration of sustainable triumph, where today’s aspirations evolve into tomorrow’s achievements.”

He explained that the DBN leverages its partnership with Participating Financial Institutions (PFI) to provide relatively cheaper loans as well as capacity building initiatives to small businesses.

The Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) was conceived by the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) in collaboration with global development partners to address the major financing challenges facing Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria.

DBN’s objective is to alleviate financing constraints faced by MSMEs and small Corporates in Nigeria through the provision of financing and partial credit guarantees to eligible financial intermediaries on a market-conforming and fully financially sustainable basis.