Women-owned businesses received N34.2 billion in financing from Access Holdings Plc in 2025, highlighting the financial services group’s targeted push to extend credit to enterprises that have long faced barriers to formal financing.
The figure formed a significant part of the group’s broader MSME drive, during which Access Holdings onboarded 78,438 micro, small and medium enterprises onto its financing platforms.
The group expanded the use of digital channels to improve access to finance and related services across its operating markets.
Access Holdings said its MSME strategy combines conventional banking, digital payments, app-based lending and business advisory support to address both the financing and operational needs of small businesses.
Through Access Bank, the group provides accounts, trade services and working capital. Hydrogen Payment Services supplies merchants with digital payment infrastructure, while Oxygen X Finance delivers app-based credit to entrepreneurs who may have limited access to traditional branch-based lending.
The integration of these services is intended to give small businesses simultaneous access to finance and payment tools, while generating transaction records that can support future credit assessments.
The group’s MSME Toolkit and related programmes also offer training and advisory services designed to strengthen entrepreneurs’ capacity in cash-flow management, expansion planning and day-to-day operations.
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Access Holdings framed the expansion of MSME financing as both a financial inclusion initiative and a means of diversifying its loan portfolio across a large number of small businesses.
The approach reflects the growing role of digital finance in tackling long-standing obstacles to MSME lending, including limited collateral, thin credit histories and the high cost of serving small-ticket borrowers.
MSMEs remain a critical segment of African economies, generating employment and supporting activity across sectors. Yet many continue to operate outside the formal financial system. By deploying digital platforms, institutions can lower the cost of reaching geographically dispersed businesses and processing relatively small loans.
