The Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) has reaffirmed its commitment to providing affordable financing for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to enhance their competitiveness and export capacity.
Speaking at the SME Export Finance Sensitisation Forum (EXCEL Programme) in Abuja, jointly organised with GIZ Nigeria under the SEDIN programme, NEXIM's Managing Director, Abubakar Bello, said the bank was working to ease access to finance and reduce the cost of borrowing for SMEs.
Bello noted that interest rates of up to 30 percent from commercial banks were unsustainable for small businesses, stressing that the bank, in collaboration with other development finance institutions such as the Bank of Industry (BoI) and the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN), was providing cheaper financing and refinancing options.
He highlighted that access to finance, weak infrastructure, and limited business capacity remained major challenges for SMEs. The EXCEL Programme, he said, aims to strengthen the capacity of entrepreneurs to build bankable businesses capable of attracting loans and equity investment.
According to him, "It's not that banks are unwilling to lend to SMEs; many simply lack the capacity and structure to manage credit effectively. Our goal is to help build that capacity and make them investment-ready."
Read also,
Bello emphasised that MSMEs remain the backbone of Nigeria's economy, accounting for 96.9 percent of registered businesses, contributing 48 percent to GDP, and employing nearly 88 percent of the workforce. Yet, over half of these enterprises still struggle to access finance.
He added that the EXCEL Programme and other NEXIM initiatives — including the SME Export Facility (SMEEF), the Women and Youth Export Facility (WAYEF), and the NEXA digital platform — are designed to make export financing more accessible, transparent, and impactful.
NEXIM Bank is also set to onboard SMEs onto the African Trade Gateway (ATG) to boost market access, improve payment systems, and strengthen intra-African trade.
