The African Development Bank has approved a $100 million loan to enhance access to finance for youth and women-led small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) through the Nigeria Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Bank (YEIB) initiative.
The Nigeria YEIB is a pioneering institution designed to drive economic growth and job creation by acting as a central hub that connects financial and non-financial stakeholders to support youth entrepreneurship. This initiative fosters collaboration to effectively address the needs of young entrepreneurs across the country.
The Bank is spearheading coordination among key Nigeria YEIB investors and partners, including the Federal Government of Nigeria, the Ministry of Finance Incorporated, the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), and the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN). The $100 million investment from the African Development Bank will be complemented by an additional $25 million from DBN and $5 million from NSIA.
The project has two core objectives: first, to establish the YEIB Investment Management Company, which will oversee three special-purpose vehicles—an Equity Investment Fund (EIF), an Ecosystem Development Fund (EDF), and a Credit Guarantee Facility (CGF)—designed to support youth and women-led businesses. The EIF will focus on investing in early-stage and high-growth enterprises, while the EDF will provide grants to business development service providers and reimburse grants to youth-led businesses. The CGF will mitigate risks to improve access to credit for SMEs, managed by the Development Bank of Nigeria’s subsidiary, Impact Credit Guarantee Limited.
This initiative is designed to de-risk young entrepreneurs, providing them with patient capital and ecosystem support to turn innovative ideas into sustainable businesses. It aims to address the long-term challenges of youth unemployment across Africa.
The Nigeria YEIB project is expected to create over 161,000 direct jobs, 40% of which will be for women, and 1.4 million indirect jobs, with 35% allocated to women. It will also provide financial services to over 38,000 youth-led enterprises, and non-financial services to an additional 38,000, with at least 40% of beneficiaries being women.
Dr. Abdul Kamara, Director General for Nigeria at the African Development Bank, emphasized the transformative impact of the project. “This initiative will be a game-changer for Nigeria’s economy, tackling youth unemployment and addressing gender disparities by offering targeted entrepreneurship support,” he said.
Mr. Ahmed Attout, Director of the Bank’s Financial Sector Development Department, described the YEIB as a transformative approach to entrepreneurship development. “By positioning Nigerian youth entrepreneurs as a high-potential asset class, this initiative creates financial opportunities, opens new avenues for public and private sector investors, and tackles structural challenges facing young entrepreneurs,” he noted.
The Nigeria YEIB is the third of its kind to be approved, following earlier initiatives in Liberia and Ethiopia. In July 2023, the Bank approved $16 million for the establishment of a YEIB in Liberia, and in May 2024, $43 million was approved for a similar project in Ethiopia.
