By Chinwendu Obienyi
From a humble beginning in 1989, Access Bank Plc has grown to become an enlarged banking entity sitting alongside four other banks on the Tier-1 table.
However, when the news about a merger/acquisition of Diamond Bank hit the airwaves, the question on most lips then was whether Access Bank wuld be able to sustain its profit margns? Would Access Bank be able to carry out its corporate social responsibilities in the medium to long term? Would there be opportunities for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to leverage the bank for more credit ? Would it be able to manage its enlarged assets considering how big it would eventually become?
Four years down the line, the bank has been able to post good results and crowned it all with a name change, Access Holdings Plc, the company principally holding the investments (directly or indirectly) in financial and non-financial institutions.
It is also important to note that the bank played a huge role in helping Nigerian businesses weather the COVID-19 pandemic, rebuilding police stations and providing loans to MSMEs.
For instance, Access Bank in 2020 secured loan support, worth up to $50 Million from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) .
The IFC’s $8 billion global COVID-19 fast track facility, launched in March 2020, was to support business activity and preserve jobs in the face of COVID-19, and has so far invested almost $400 million through this facility in Africa.
Also, the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and Access Bank signed a commitment letter for $280 million to help address the financing gap for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The bank and the IFC had already empowered 100 female entrepreneurs across Africa who graduated from the bank’s initiative, called ‘Womenpreneur pitch-a-ton Africa’.
The bank disclosed this in Lagos during an event to award 100 women with an IFC Mini-MBA, financial grants worth N9.75 million to five women and other consolation prizes.
Recently, the bank revealed that it is planning to provide funding, risk sharing and non-financial services to MSMEs through the proposed $1 billion SME Immersion Fund for Africa.
Speaking to Daily Sun during the sidelines of African SME Immersion Roundtable Discussion tagged; Enhancing the capabilities of MSMEs across Africa which held in Lagos, the Deputy Managing Director, Access Bank Plc, Victor Etuokwu, said the bank loves the SME segment of the market due to the fact it remains the engine room of the economy.
He said SME contributes over 70 per cent to employment across the African continent while adding that the bank supports the segment via access to finance, knowledge on business intelligence and markets.
“This year alone, we must have provided over N40 billion to SMEs across the country to hundreds of them but that is not enough because we have over 40 million SMEs in Nigeria and we want to do a lot more for the country and across the African continent. This is why we deployed emerging business teams across the continent to see how we can begin to impact the markets located within our subsidiaries in Africa.
Today, we are here with African Development Bank (AfDB) and Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) amongst others to seek for ways to provide the funding that this segment needs to truly kick-start the economy and so the idea here is to create the African Immersion Facility Intervention Program which should be used to drive MSMEs across the continent”, Etuokwu said.
Also speaking, the Executive Director, African Subsidiaries at the bank, Seyi Kumapayi, said Access Bank in its bid to be the world’s most respected African bank wants to make a global impact for entrepreneurs.
Kumapayi noted that from a GDP standpoint, 2.5 per cent contribution from MSMEs is not enough due to the fact that the segment lacks access to finance, affordability and capacity to manage businesses.
He revealed that the bank will in the next 5 years, make an impact in about 10 million SMEs across Africa and is looking to commit about $1 billion within the next 5 years to support SMEs in the continent.
For her part, Group Head, Emerging Businesses, Access Bank, Ayodele Olojede, said the plan is groundbreaking and based on the fact that the bank is located in 14 African countries, this would transform Africa and help struggling MSMEs. Hence, this means that Access Bank is doing all it can beyond banking to help scale up MSMEs. In doing this, the bank is truly fast-tracking Africa, especially Nigeria’s economic growth.