BY ABUBAKAR YUSUF
For Development Bank of Nigeria, DBN under the leadership of Dr Tony Okpanachi as Managing Director, alot has been achieved in the last few years the organization debuted in Nigeria.
Deriving its modus operandi from its key focus areas , “DBN’s leadership drives its mission to provide medium-to-long-term financing and guarantees to Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises MSME”s to foster inclusive growth and economic development in Nigeria. ”
The economic development is not restricted to the larger area of country’s advancement, but high priority is given to Micro , Small and Medium Scale Enterprises MSME’s, so as to trickled down the real economic performance indices and indicators, that is capable of improving the county’s Gross Domestic Product GDP.
With Nigeria’s GDP varies by source and year, with estimates for 2025 around $285 billion (nominal) or higher, driven by services and oil, despite recent fluctuations; recent data shows Q2 2024 growth led by industry, while Q3 2025 real estate saw growth but slower overall growth, indicating a complex, service-heavy economy.
Inline with the operationalization of the GDP, Development Bank cocooned it’s area of operation to cover low income activities in the country.
The Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN), established by the Federal Government in 2014/2015 with global partners like the World Bank, AfDB, EIB, and AFD, to provide wholesale financing and guarantees for Nigerian Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), through existing banks like Micro Finance Banks,MFBs, Commercial Banks, to bridge financing gaps, boost growth, and create jobs.
It also offers long-term funding and risk-sharing, helping financial institutions lend more affordably to MSME’s for capital, equipment, and supplies, operating as a catalyst for economic development and growth.
With the mandate to provide it’s primary objective to Nigerians , Development Bank of Nigeria, DBN partial credit risk guarantees to participating financial institutions that is numbering over 700 currently, is capable of sharing risks of all forms.
The Bank also engaged in Finance to Finance on-lending after availement to targeted and genuine customers , The on-lending scheme designed for Financial Institutions (FI) lending operations to MSMEs.
The Bank’s efforts in carrying out indepth capacity building of the staff and beneficiaries of the MSME’s through seminars , workshops, symposiums that had prepared them ahead of challenges and ensured the MSME’s operators toe on the approaches.
DBN also operated Long Term Finance Scheme to Primary Finance Institutions PFI’s, The Long-Term Finance is to Participating Financial Institutions, support their long-term lending MSME’s for a period up to 10 years., which included both Micro Finance Banks MFB’s and commercial banks designated for the program of disbursement.
The success story of the current management and leadership under Dr Tony Okpanachi and objective 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.
Having attained greatly through disbursement of over 1 trillion in a record time , Development Bank of Nigeria, DBN had proved the mettle of providing and engineering MSME’s in the country.
This has earned the leadership under Dr Tony Okpanachi with awards and recognition for DBN on its strides.
Written BY ABUBAKAR YUSUF on yus.abubakar3@gmail.com.