The Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) has revealed that women entrepreneurs took the largest part of its disbursement to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) which amounted to N700 billion in the last seven years.

The Managing Director of DBN, Mr Tony Okpanachi, disclosed this over the weekend at the celebration of the International Women's Day held at Wuye Ultra-Modern Market, Abuja.

The theme of the 2024 celebration as christened by DBN is "Celebrating the Amazons in the Market Place-Inspire Inclusion".

Executive Director, Finance and Corporate Services, Mrs Ijeoma Ozulumba, who represented Mr Okpanachi at the occasion, said about 60 per cent of the total disbursement went to women.

She noted that reports from Participation Financial Institutions (PFIs) indicate that Non-Performing loans (NPLs) from disbursement to women were the lowest in the industry.

"So far, from the intervention that we've seen, our banks have reported to us that our portfolio has the lowest non-performing loans; there's good recovery in the loans and also women's portfolio is even lower in terms of default."

"DBN has disbursed over N700 billion as loans to entrepreneurs and women took the bigger part of about 60 per cent," she said.

She added that beyond funding, DBN ensures that access to funding is key, noting that the bank was in the North East and North West last year to ensure that women have access to finance, to grow and develop their businesses.