•Women most beneficiaries of DBN investments with 72% – Okpanachi
By Juliet Umeh
Four Nigerian startups with innovative ideas around green and renewable energy have won a total of N20 million in seed funding from the Development Bank of Nigeria, DBN, at the bank’s 2024 Techpreneur Summit.
The summit, in its third stage, held in Lagos with the theme: “Catalyzing Tech Innovation: Empowering Entrepreneurs for Regenerative Growth,” is aimed to promote investor-ready technology innovations within the Nigerian ecosystem.
Managing Director/CEO of DBN, Dr. Tony Okpanachi, while announcing the seed funding during the event, highlighted DBN’s commitment to supporting sustainable ventures.
He said: “This year, the 2024 DBN Techpreneur Summit seeks to promote and showcase investor-ready technology innovations within Nigeria’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, while providing access to a pipeline of investors and subsequently funding to qualified techprenuers.
“To achieve this, DBN is partnering with Addium Capital to organize a dedicated DealRoom session within the summit. This exclusive DealRoom will serve as a platform for techprenuers to meet with potential investors directly.
“By integrating DealRoom into the summit, we aim to bridge the gap between capital seekers and investors, catalyzing funding opportunities and fostering regenerative growth within the Nigerian tech ecosystem.
“As part of the activities lined up for this year’s DBN Techprenuer Summit, a pitch session will be held to showcase innovative ideas around green/renewable energy and other sustainable innovations and a total prize sum of N20,000,000 (Twenty Million Naira) has been earmarked for four successful winners of the pitch as seed money.
“As DBN, we have played our part in connecting you with investors and funding opportunities, and we encourage you to take full advantage of the discourse and the Dealroom”.
While noting the success of the first and second Techpreneur summits, Okpanachi emphasized the bank’s success in promoting gender parity in the tech space, with 72% of DBN beneficiaries being women and 24% being youth.
According to him, “As a wholesale Bank, we lend through commercial banks, microfinance banks and other financial institutions that meet our criteria”.
He also said that in addition to lending, DBN provides technical assistance to financial institutions participating in its lending program to encourage them to lend to the MSMEs.
He added, “DBN also assists in capacity building for MSMEs through our various initiatives, one of which is the Techpreneur Summit, which was initiated to better understand the needs of Nigeria’s tech ecosystem to provide sustainable financial solutions to them.