FirstBank projects N1tn for SME funding in 2025

FirstBank has revealed its preparedness to disburse over N1tn in funding to drive the growth of small and medium-scale enterprises in Nigeria this year.

This was disclosed at the SME Scale Up event, which was held on Friday in Lagos and brought together entrepreneurs from different sectors of the economy under the theme ‘Scale Up Your Business, Soar High’.

FirstBank recently won the Best SME Bank in Nigeria and the Best SME Bank in Africa at the 2025 Asian Banker Awards for the second consecutive year, highlighting its unwavering commitment to supporting SMEs.

Addressing the participants, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of FirstBank, Olusegun Alebiosu, highlighted the critical role of SMEs in the economic well-being of the country.

He said, “Whatever you do impacts the ecosystem. You pay salaries, you employ people, you support your families, you pay taxes and you support the society. In every economy, SMEs are the engine of growth, so the big men and the big businesses remain, but the real people who would go down to employ younger people, fresh graduates, and salesgirls are SMEs. FirstBank employs fresh graduates every year, but imagine how many more you can employ; you create more jobs and make lives better. So, when we empower you, we are actually helping the economy.

“At FirstBank, I’m sure you are aware, this is an SME champion, and we pride ourselves on the fact that we support SMEs. I was a former branch manager, so I understand everything that you think I don’t understand, and I also like to converse with people.

He went on to highlight that the bank has won many awards for championing the cause of SMEs and recommitted to the cause.

“I want to ensure that FirstBank, as we are woven into the fabric of the society, we will continue to do so,” he said.

Speaking with The PUNCH, the Head of SME Banking at FirstBank, Abiodun Famuyiwa, also reiterated the role of SMEs in the economy, saying, “If you look at Nigeria’s GDP today, about 48 to 49 per cent is contributed by SMEs, and they employ about 80 per cent of the population, so in terms of contribution and employment, they are very significant.

“This SME Scale Up is a way to pull up SMEs from wherever they are. FirstBank is doing quite a lot for SMEs in the area of funding and beyond funding. Like what we are doing today, we are not giving them funds but the education that they need to scale up their businesses. What are the areas where their businesses may have challenges? It is not just about funding now. Here, we want to expose the businesspeople to everything about their business so that they see their business as an entity, and when they are even spending, they are not spending their capital in the process of developing their business.

“FirstBank today is the biggest financier of SMEs in Nigeria. Last year, for those who are in the market alone, we disbursed about N100bn to just market men and women alone. Then, for traders that you see around, we disbursed between N74bn and N80bn apart from other sectors like schools and pharmacies. Last year, FirstBank disbursed over N700bn to SMEs alone, and this year, we are going over a trillion to SMEs. The space is open to SMEs, and we see them as partners that we want to see grow in their businesses.

“Most of these loans that we have just talked about are non-collateralised, meaning you don’t need any contribution, and the interest rates that we give for our loans are highly competitive.”