The Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) was one of the key partners of the second edition of the National MSME Award, which took place on Thursday, 1st August, 2019.

Recall that the National MSME Award is an offshoot of the Nationwide MSME Clinic, which was launched in 2017 by the Office of the Vice President and conceived as a platform to bring together all relevant Federal Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) to address the challenges faced by small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs). The aim of the initiative is to enhance the contribution of SMEs to national development. It is also one of the key initiatives of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, under the Economic Recovery & Growth Plan (ERGP) aimed at achieving sustainable and inclusive growth through economic diversification, jobs creation and poverty eradication.

Since the commencement of the MSME clinics, NEXIM has participated in all the programmes, which have been held so far in 22 states of the Federation, including the Federal Capital Territory. The Bank has also collaborated towards the establishment of One-Stop Shops, designed to attend to enquiries of MSMEs on an on-going basis, in addition to contributing to the establishment of Common Facility Centres, where SMEs could have access to modern machinery and equipment, thereby helping them to upscale and enhance the value of their products.

NEXIM, being a major partner, was the sponsor of the prize for the Most Outstanding Female MSME Clinic Partner in 2019. This was one of the Star Prizes for the second edition of the Award Programme. Last year, the Bank sponsored the prize for the best MSME in the Agricultural Sector.  
Being an Agency of government, which prides itself as the Trade Policy Bank of Nigeria, NEXIM offers credit and risk-bearing services to support non-oil exports from Nigeria, thereby helping to diversify the economy from crude oil exports. The Bank is also partnering with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to manage the Export Development Fund (EDF) and the Non-oil Export Stimulation Facility (NESF), established by the Apex Bank to mitigate the funding gap in the non-oil export sector. NEXIM is also collaborating with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to implement the Nigerian African Trade and Investment Promotion Programme (NATIPP). Afreximbank has earmarked $1 billion for the programme to support export and investment activities of Nigerian entrepreneurs in other African Countries.

Over the last one year, the Bank has approved applications worth N55 billion and disbursed about N24 billion to exporters, many of whom are SMEs.