The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a $100 million loan to boost financial access for youth and women-led small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria under the Nigeria Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Bank (YEIB) initiative. This pioneering institution is set to enhance economic growth and tackle youth unemployment, serving as a collaboration hub for financial and non-financial stakeholders aiming to support youth entrepreneurs.
AfDB’s investment will be supplemented by contributions from Nigeria’s Development Bank (DBN) and the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), bringing an additional $25 million and $5 million, respectively. Key partners in the YEIB project include the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Ministry of Finance Incorporated, NSIA, and DBN.
The initiative’s core structure includes two main components: establishing the YEIB Investment Management Company and creating three special purpose vehicles (SPVs). These SPVs are the Equity Investment Fund (EIF), Ecosystem Development Fund (EDF), and Credit Guarantee Facility (CGF). The EIF will focus on early-stage and high-growth businesses, the EDF will support business development services with grants, and the CGF will help SMEs gain access to credit, managed by Impact Credit Guarantee Limited, a DBN subsidiary.
YEIB aims to directly create over 161,000 jobs, with 40% for women, and 1.4 million indirect jobs, with 35% targeted toward women. More than 38,000 youth-led businesses will receive financial services, and an additional 38,000 will gain non-financial support, with women comprising at least 40% of beneficiaries. By providing “patient capital” and resources to de-risk youth-led enterprises, YEIB positions itself as a long-term solution to Africa’s youth unemployment crisis.
AfDB’s Director General for Nigeria, Dr. Abdul Kamara, described YEIB as transformative, noting, “This initiative will be a game-changer for Nigeria’s economy, addressing youth unemployment and closing gender gaps through targeted entrepreneurship support.” Mr. Ahmed Attout, Director of the Bank’s Financial Sector Development Department, added that YEIB goes beyond traditional project-based approaches to offer “systemic, institutional solutions” that place Nigerian youth entrepreneurs as high-potential investments, attracting both public and private sector capital.
The Nigeria YEIB project is the third of its kind, with similar initiatives planned across Africa. In 2023, AfDB approved $16 million to establish YEIB in Liberia, and in 2024, another $43 million for a similar project in Ethiopia, signaling a growing regional focus on empowering young entrepreneurs.
