Wema Banks Signs $50m Credit Facility With EBID

Kayode Tokede

Wema Bank has signed a credit facility of $50,000,000 with the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID).

The funds are reserved specifically to support and promote empowerment initiatives for bank’s diverse customers.

The $50 million credit facility assigned to Wema Bank aligns with EBID’s strategy of impacting SMEs across the sub-region via partnerships with banks and reputable financial institutions that have a significant reach within the subregion.

With this facility, the bank will now extend its already functional loan disbursement capacity to positively impact more Nigerians and business owners across the country, driving the shared vision of empowerment.

Wema Bank’s Managing Director/CEO, Moruf Oseni, disclosed that the bank’s unrelenting quest to drive impact and its mission of empowering lives through innovation, were what motivated this partnership with EBID.

According to him, “Banking without impact or value is nothing, which is why we continue to find new ways to positively impact the lives of our customers and our society. Our mission is clear – to empower lives through innovation – and over the years, we have developed innovative ways to achieve it. With each solution, partnership, and initiative, we have evolved into a multifarious support system and enabler across different areas of the national ecosystem and through this partnership, more lives and businesses will be impacted nationwide.”

Describing the partnership as long-expected, the President and Chairman of the Board of Directors at ECOWAS, George Agyemkum Donkor, emphasised the importance of women empowerment and the need to continue providing actors in the agricultural sector with resources to enhance produce, add value to the ecosystem and increase trade returns for socio-economic growth and development.

He further highlighted the impact of the credit facility on driving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“It also aligns with SDGs 5 and 2. SDG 2 talks about the fact that we should ensure food security in the subregions and of course the entire world, and SDG 5 talks about gender equality,” he added.