signs a Memorandum of Understanding with the Nigerian Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN) Following its MOU signing with the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) on February 25, 2025, in Lagos, Nigeria, Wema Bank, Nigeria’s leading innovative bank and the forerunner of Africa’s first fully digital bank, ALAT, has launched an initiative to empower 800,000 Nigerian businesses, further solidifying its reputation as an organisation dedicated to empowering SMEs.
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SMEDAN is a national organisation that was founded in 2003 with the intention of advancing the growth of the Nigerian economy’s Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector. The goal of the collaboration with Wema Bank is to provide MSMEs with business, technical, and soft skills training so they may expand sustainably, create profitable enterprises, and increase their visibility. Wema Bank will supply the 800,000 enterprises that SMEDAN will curate with training and tools to carry out this ambitious project. The next 12 to 18 months will see the implementation of this effort.
Moruf Oseni, MD/CEO of Wema Bank, spoke about the relationship and reaffirmed the Bank’s enduring dedication to enabling Nigerians to prosper. “At Wema Bank, we don’t pay lip service to SME matters,” he said. Wema Bank was established in 1945 with the intention of financing Nigeria’s indigenous population. It was because we recognised the holes in our people’s access to financing, not because banks didn’t exist at the time.
Wema Bank was founded with the goal of enabling Nigerians to prosper on both a personal and business level by offering specialised financial services. Wema Bank has been spearheading the lifelong goal of providing financial access to Nigerians for the past eight decades, continuously innovating to create more effective means of providing value to the populace.
Our unwavering commitment to assisting Nigerian small companies and entrepreneurs is one of our guiding principles. The entrepreneurs and MSMEs that we continue to encourage in the 2000s are the petty traders that we supported in the 1900s, and we will never compromise on keeping this commitment. Therefore, MSME empowerment is more than simply a catchphrase to us.
That’s what we’ve always done, what we’re doing with this collaboration with SMEDAN, and what we’ll be doing for another 80 years. Charles Odili, the Director General of SMEDAN, praised Wema Bank’s clear dedication and crucial role in empowering companies and fostering growth in the MSME Sector. He expressed confidence in the partnership’s ability to help Nigerian MSMEs create a sustainable future. He concluded by saying, “I would like to thank Wema Bank once more.
This is an excellent illustration of how teamwork and a commitment to making an impact may have a beneficial effect. I appreciate your unwavering support of MSMEs and your commitment to MSME empowerment in Nigeria. As Nigeria’s SME Bank, Wema Bank has established a stellar reputation by going above and beyond to provide businesses with access to capital, market access, visibility, customised training, mentorship, and other forms of assistance.
By establishing strong Nigerian companies and strengthening its standing as the bank dedicated to enabling MSMEs, Wema Bank hopes to develop the country’s MSME sector through this collaboration with SMEDAN.
