BY COBHAM NSA – The Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) has disbursed more than N62.5 billion to female entrepreneurs in Nigeria as of February 2022.
Managing Director of the Bank, Mr Tony Okapnachi, who gave the figure in Abuja as DBN celebrated the 2022 International Women’s Day, said; “Gender equity is crucial to meeting development goals, reducing human suffering, and solving our biggest environmental problems”.
He noted that women globally “continue to suffer from gender inequality, including child labour, forced marriages, gender-based violence, sexist policies, as well as barriers to participation in education and employment”.
This is as he also identified that the stereotypes and biases that women have to contend with include; “Women Can’t Be Leaders; Women Are Irrational; Women Can’t Handle Huge Responsibilities and many more.”
Okapnachi said for any society to make progress; “We must challenge these pre-conceived notions”, adding that as DBN’s Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, he leads “a team that is deliberately breaking these biases”.
According to him, the process “is anchored on the appreciation and recognition of the strategic role women play as reliable builders of micro, small, and medium scale enterprises, a segment we are mandated to provide funding to”.
“It is admirable that we are now challenging these biases, especially in the workplace; we must also be aware of the unintended consequence of this new level of openness and embrace it with optimism instead of fear”, the DBN boss said.
