FirstBank has reaffirmed its support for manufacturing and agro-processing businesses as part of efforts to drive industrialisation, expand local production and create jobs for Nigeria’s growing workforce.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of FirstBank, Olusegun Alebiosu, said the bank had supported rice mills, plantation agriculture and agro-processing businesses, including palm oil processing, through financing arrangements aimed at strengthening domestic production.
Alebiosu spoke during a breakout session at the ongoing 32nd Economic Summit in Abuja on Tuesday, where he identified access to finance for productive enterprises as critical to industrial development and economic growth.
He said financial institutions had an important role to play in helping entrepreneurs establish factories, acquire raw materials and manufacture goods for the domestic market, noting that industrialisation remained essential to absorbing Nigeria’s expanding population and the increasing number of graduates entering the labour market.
“The teeming population that we have and the graduates that we are churning out, the only thing that can absorb them is industry,” he said.
The FirstBank chief executive explained that the impact of industrial investments extended beyond factory employment to transportation, food vending, housing, education, healthcare and other services that develop around industrial communities.
He urged Nigerian entrepreneurs to explore opportunities in manufacturing, agro-processing, industrial power generation and industrial clusters, stressing that increased local production could reduce dependence on imported goods and stimulate economic activity.
Alebiosu, however, identified a poor credit culture and loan repayment failures as major challenges that limit access to financing for industrial enterprises. According to him, the inability of some borrowers to meet their repayment obligations has made banks and development finance institutions cautious about lending, creating difficulties for businesses seeking capital to expand production.
He said affordable financing would remain difficult to secure unless entrepreneurs demonstrated financial discipline, the capacity to repay loans and the managerial expertise required to operate sustainable businesses.
On the high cost of borrowing, Alebiosu acknowledged that double-digit lending rates could constrain industrial expansion but urged entrepreneurs not to abandon viable manufacturing opportunities solely because of the cost of credit.
He also identified improved foreign exchange stability as a factor that could help businesses plan operations, make investment decisions and obtain the inputs required for production.
The FirstBank CEO further questioned the practice of requiring commercial banks to guarantee loans provided by institutions established to promote industrial development, saying it reflected concerns about the creditworthiness of businesses seeking funding.
He cautioned against providing financing to entrepreneurs who lacked the technical and managerial capacity to deploy funds effectively, urging business owners to use loans for their intended purposes.
Alebiosu also highlighted FirstBank’s FirstGem initiative, which he said had been operating for about five years to support women-owned businesses. He said the programme had expanded to cover enterprises in sectors including tailoring, fashion, beauty and food processing, with an emphasis on building productive businesses rather than financing conventional trading activities alone. According to him, supporting women entrepreneurs could strengthen households, expand businesses and create additional economic opportunities, adding that young women were increasingly embracing the initiative.
He reaffirmed the bank’s commitment to supporting women-owned enterprises as part of its broader efforts to promote entrepreneurship, productive investment and economic growth.
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