The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) has unveiled a N500 million zero-interest revolving fund to improve access to finance for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), with the agency adopting an association-based lending model to strengthen accountability, improve loan recovery and expand financial inclusion.
SMEDAN director-general, Charles Odii, announced the initiative during an engagement with the Commerce and Industry Correspondents Association of Nigeria (CICAN) in Abuja as part of activities marking the 2026 World MSME Day.
The initiative, known as the Grow Fund for Small Businesses in Nigeria, will be disbursed through cooperatives, trade unions, business membership organisations and recognised associations rather than directly to individual entrepreneurs.
Odii said the association-based lending model was designed to ensure that the loans reach genuine business owners while improving monitoring, accountability and repayment, allowing the revolving fund to support more enterprises over time.
According to him, access to affordable finance remains one of the biggest obstacles facing Nigerian MSMEs, making the intervention necessary. “We visited traders at one of the markets today to engage directly with them because it is not enough to sit in offices and make policies without understanding their realities.”
