Forum expects MSME bank to fund small businesses

The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Forum (MSME Forum), the umbrella body for all registered associations of MSMEs in Nigeria, has announced plans to establish an MSME bank to cater to their particular financing needs.

Dr. Olajide Akinyeme, Chairman of the MSME Forum Board, revealed this during the official inauguration of the Forum in Abuja on Thursday.

He noted that despite the enormous economic potentials of the MSME sector in Nigeria, the sector is still largely underdeveloped and underutilized. He said the creation of the bank is a central program of the five-year strategic plan.

“We are also pushing for the creation of an MSME bank. Because financing is a big problem for MSMEs, as the majority of them lack management capacity.

“But if we set up our own bank, we know what their challenges are and we will be able to fund them, regulate and grow MSMEs in Nigeria. We envision the Bank to be the largest in Africa,” he said.

He acknowledged the efforts of government and other institutions that have tried to help support MSMEs. However, he said these policies have not really gained traction due to the lack of understanding of the particularities of MSMEs and the unorganized nature of MSMEs in Nigeria.

“We have around 40 million MSNEs and they are languishing in poverty because we don’t understand the sector’s contribution to the economy. Government policies, although good and robust, their impacts have not been felt as the sector is unorganized. They fail to come together and speak with one voice,” he said.

Dr. Akinyemi noted that the five-year strategic plan is a plan by which every MSME, down to local governments, will be recognized and able to influence government policies.

He also said that the particularities of MSMEs will be tackled down to the local level.

Speaking on the composition of the MSME Forum, he said that there are over 165 MSME associations registered with the Forum.