AB Microfinance Bank Nigeria (ABN) has received an N800 million ($4.9 million) loan from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, to enhance SME funding in the country.

ABN, a foreign-owned financial institution based in Lagos, Nigeria, which provides easy access to loans for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), deposit accounts services, as well as other financial services, seeks to promote financial inclusion, job creation and improve access to liquid funding for SME businesses.

“Improving access to financial services for MSMEs would hasten growth in the informal sector and our partnership with IFC will help eliminate the bottle-necks on loan acquisitions and enable us provide growth opportunities for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and lower income clients to foster job creation and economic growth,” said Mr. Mattias Grammling, Managing Director of ABN.

IFC expects the loan to help ABN build on its already impressive record of offering easy-to-access financial services to entrepreneurs and new market segments, who serve those at the bottom of the economic pyramid.

“The activities are critical for helping people with low-income engage in economic activity to sustain livelihoods and gain access to basic goods and services,” IFC said.

Solomon Adegbie-Quaynor, IFC’s Country Manager for Nigeria added that the corporation’s investment will provide entrepreneurs with “term funding in naira to make local currency more readily available from AB Microfinance”.