The news:
- Swedfund, Sweden's development finance institution working to alleviate poverty reduction through sustainable investments in developing countries, has said it wants to improve access to finance in Nigeria.
- According to a press release seen by Techpoint Africa, the organisation has invested $30 million in Access Bank Nigeria Plc to support underserved micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) at scale.
- The investment, which the organisation says will provide long-term capital and capacity building to unbanked and underbanked Nigerian businesses, is expected to drive sustainable private sector development and inclusive growth.
The loan is part of a consortium led by the Dutch development finance institution, FMO, with a total value of $295 million. This consortium includes other European development finance institutions such as British International Investment (BII), Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries (BIO), Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation Ltd (Finnfund), and Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries (Norfund).
Coupled with various challenges, including inflation, food shortages, and insecurity, Nigeria’s current unemployment rate stands at an alarming 33%.
With a population of 230 million, more than half of the rapidly growing population is under 30, further underlining the urgency for job creation and workforce development in the country.
MSMEs have been instrumental in enabling sustainable development and reducing poverty.
Swedfund says it wants to empower the businesses to do more. With the new capital injection, the firm plans to expand access to finance. The company will partner with Access Bank to do this, leveraging the financial institution's extensive resources to implement its plans.
As Kitanha Toure, Regional Director of West Africa at Swedfund puts it, “Access Bank, known for its strong market presence and with a committed MSME strategy, serves as an effective partner to reach MSMEs in need of financing in Nigeria.”
The European finance firm sees Access Bank as “systemically important and well-positioned” to take this opportunity to many MSMEs in the country.
In addition to improving access to finance for female- and youth-owned companies and rural and underserved groups, Swedfund assures that its investment will contribute to direct and indirect job creation and other tax-generating activities. Swedfund, in the press statement, noted that Access Bank is recognised as the best small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) bank for women entrepreneurs in Africa and ticks all the boxes for the 2X Criteria, a global baseline standard for gender finance.
