DBN Launches DAWN, Impact Report and MSME Data Assets
The Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) Plc has launched DAWN: DBN Action for Women in Nigeria, unveiled its DBN Impact Report and presented the DBN MSME Data Assets at the seventh edition of its Annual Lecture, held at the Congress Hall, Transcorp Hilton, Abuja.
Themed: ‘From Policy to Prosperity: Translating Economic Reforms into MSME Growth’, the 2026 lecture brought together government officials, regulators, development partners, financial institutions and entrepreneurs to examine how national economic reforms can deliver real gains for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
Delivering the welcome address, the Managing Director/CEO of DBN, Dr. Tony Okpanachi, said the central challenge was no longer the reforms themselves but ensuring their benefits reach businesses at the end of the chain.
“The major reforms are now in place. How do we make sure their benefits reach the trader in Onitsha, the fabricator in Aba, the farmer in Kebbi and the young founder in Yaba?” he asked.
He noted that MSMEs accounted for close to half of Nigeria’s GDP and more than eight in every ten jobs, adding: “When reform works for MSMEs, it works for most Nigerians.”
Okpanachi explained that a reform becomes prosperity only when an entrepreneur could act on it, whether through long-tenor loans to buy equipment, a bank willing to take the risk, or the skills and records needed to grow. Working through Participating Financial Institutions, DBN provides longer-term funding, partial credit guarantees through its subsidiary, Impact Credit Guarantee Limited, and capacity building, including its Entrepreneurship Training Programme.
He reported that as at December 2025, DBN had disbursed a cumulative N1.4 trillion to MSMEs through 84 Participating Financial Institutions, creating about 1.6 million jobs nationwide. Under its new five-year strategy, the Bank aims to reach more than two million MSMEs, with deliberate targets for women-led businesses, youth-led businesses and underserved states.