FirstBank Set to Disburse Over N1tn to SMEs in 2025

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FirstBank has announced its readiness to disburse over N1tn in funding to drive the growth of small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) 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.

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Addressing the participants, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of FirstBank, Olusegun Alebiosu, highlighted the critical role of SMEs in the economic well-being of the country. “Whatever you do impacts the ecosystem. You pay salaries, you employ people, you support your families, you pay taxes, and you support 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.”

Alebiosu emphasised FirstBank’s commitment to empowering SMEs. “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.

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

Abiodun Famuyiwa, also reiterated the role of SMEs in the economy. “If you look at Nigeria’s GDP today, about 48 to 49 percent is contributed by SMEs, and they employ about 80 percent of the population, so in terms of contribution and employment, they are very significant.”

Famuyiwa highlighted FirstBank’s efforts to support SMEs beyond funding. “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.”

He noted that FirstBank disbursed over N700 billion to SMEs last year and plans to disburse over N1 trillion this year. “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.”

Famuyiwa emphasised FirstBank’s commitment to supporting SMEs. “FirstBank today is the biggest financier of SMEs in Nigeria. The space is open to SMEs, and we see them as partners that we want to see grow in their businesses.

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