The Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) Plc has initiated plans to expand access to green funding for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) through a proposed intervention scheme supporting low-carbon development. 

As part of its formal accreditation engagement with the United Nations Green Climate Fund (GCF), the apex development finance institution organised a comprehensive stakeholder consultation in Abuja for its landmark programme titled “Unlocking Climate Finance at Scale: MSME Low-Carbon Transition and Agricultural Resilience in Nigeria.”

The multi-million dollar intervention architecture is structured around a dedicated Climate Finance Facility paired with an extensive technical assistance component for commercial banks, microfinance institutions, and small business owners. 

The funding window is designed to drive targeted private investments into high-impact, eco-friendly ventures. 

DBN administrators identified climate-smart agriculture, off-grid renewable energy deployments, industrial energy efficiency upgrades, and low-carbon rural transportation networks as the primary priority sectors for immediate credit allocation.

According to official project design briefs, the low-carbon program is expected to directly benefit more than 50,000 MSMEs over a five-year implementation period. 

DBN has embedded strict social inclusion metrics within the disbursement framework, reserving a significant percentage of the facility for women-led commercial enterprises and rural smallholder farmers operating in climate-vulnerable geographic zones. 

Speaking at the interactive assembly, the Executive Director of DBN, Mrs Ijeoma D. Ozulumba, reiterated that positioning local small businesses to tap into global green capital is a core development mandate for the institution.

The collaborative session drew key representatives from the Federal Government, environmental regulatory agencies, international development partners, and civil society coalitions. 

The feedback gathered from the technical panels will be used to refine the structural design of the project proposal prior to its final submission to the GCF Secretariat. 

DBN management emphasised that the initiative directly matches Nigeria’s third iteration of its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC 3.0), which prioritises resilient agricultural livelihoods and aggressive climate finance mobilisation to achieve an inclusive green economy.

Source: The Sun Ng
Image Credit: Shamzbridge Consult