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BOI Disburses N1trn To SMEs, Large Enterprises In 6 Years

Oluwasina Phillip

The Bank of Industry (BoI) has revealed that its disbursement to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and large enterprises has reached over N1trillion in six years.

According to the Development Finance Institution (DFI), the feat was achievable through strong strategic partnerships with various institutions in the state, federal government agencies and private sector organisations.

The Managing Director, Bank of Industry (BOI), Oluwakayode Pitan disclosed this while speaking at the 37th Omolayole Management Lecture series themed, “African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)- Prospects for African Youth Leadership,” organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI).

He said the BOI is at the forefront of industrialising the Nigerian economy and would continue to take deliberate steps towards addressing issues related to financing gaps across all business segments.

According to him, in the last three years, over $3 billion has been raised through the international financial market in its objective to continuously improve its capacity to bridge the huge financing gap that exist in Nigeria’s industrial sector.

He added that there is a growing number of start-up businesses in Africa at present, as young people are embracing their entrepreneurial mind-set and technological skills, resulting in the rapid digital transformation of the continent.

He advised that to address this risk and realise the gains expected for a free trade area, there is a need for increased infrastructure investment in Nigeria, saying that one way to achieve this is through public-private partnerships (PPPs), which should be significantly leveraged towards building sustainable infrastructural facilities across the country, while the Government provides an enabling governance framework.

“The newly established Infrastructure Company (InfraCo) will play a lead role in its implementation,” he added.

He added that despite making up a significant percentage of the continent’s population, the participation of young people in cross-border trade and trade governance matters is still very limited.

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