Project detail - ACCESS BANK PLC NASIRA PORTFOLIO

Who is our customer

Access Bank Plc (“AB”) has been a strategic partner of FMO since 2005 and has developed from the 65th position among Nigeria’s 95 banks in 2002 to become the largest bank in Q12019 following the successful acquisition of Diamond Bank (“DB”). AB, listed on the NSE, is a full-service commercial bank operating through a network of 567 branches across Nigeria. Access Bank has seven subsidiaries in Africa, one in the UK, and four representative offices. The bank provides a wide range of banking and financial services via four main business segments: Corporate & Investment banking, Commercial Banking, Business Banking, and Personal Banking. AB has historically been focused on the corporate and commercial banking space and is known for its prudent risk approach. Key aspects of AB’s 2018- 22 strategy to become the most respected African bank are (i) strong growth in retail banking, mainly from a deposit perspective, by leveraging on digital solutions; (ii) consolidating the leading position in wholesale banking; (iii) consistently grow their loan portfolio to local MSMEs (a.o. by further strengthening and expanding their value chain approach); (iv) expand its pan-Africa footprint (e.g. Kenya) and (v) grow in trade and transaction banking and as such become a universal payments gateway.

What is our funding objective?

The main objective is to support the implementation of a training program for Nigerian youth with the ultimate goal of building the capacity of 52,000 young people in entrepreneurship, creative industries, and digital skills. Access Bank will partner with three consulting firms to deliver training sessions for the youth as per the following plan: 1) Kleos. Upskilling 12,000 entrepreneurs by training them in financial literacy and entrepreneurship. 2) African Fintech Foundry. Coaching 15,000 young people on core technological skills. 3) The Phoenix Group. Training 25,000 young people in creative industry skills (film and production, social media, etc.).

Why do we fund this investment?

The financial inclusion of the youth constitutes a key pillar of the Nasira objectives. The program's mandate for ecosystem-level technical assistance interventions states that Nasira must: “support the Target Group in unlocking and enhancing their potential as entrepreneurs with the objective to include them in the financial system”. This program is all about that, as the training component is complemented by concessionary lending of up to N50bn (~€30M), allocated by Access Bank to support over 700,000 youth. In addition, Access Bank will benefit selected trainees with grants in the range of N40M (~€25K). Through this strategic partnership, Nasira and FMO will not only contribute to upskilling the Nigerian youth in sectors with high future employability but also help to include program beneficiaries in the financial system. Accelerating the onboarding of young entrepreneurs to the Access Bank client base will assist the bank in increasing its MSME footprint and contribute to hitting the targets agreed upon with FMO and its network of partners for the Nasira guarantee in place and the syndicated loan under negotiation. Syndicated Facility: FMO is mandated by Access Bank to lead a subordinated syndication of up to USD 300M. In February 2024, there was a 3-day due diligence with a diverse group of eight DFI’s and social Investors. The facility is expected to be signed in July 2024. It will be allocated to specific SME-loan groups which would support entrepreneurship & innovation and encourage growth of (M)SMEs as 50% of the investment will go towards general SMEs, and 50% to “underserved” SMEs and MSMEs sub-borrowers.

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Date	Total FMO financing
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