At the Newslodge MSME Finance Awards 2024, several big and important companies in Nigeria, like Mastercard and Access Bank, were celebrated for doing a great job helping small and medium businesses grow. These businesses are very important in Nigeria. They help make a lot of money for the country and give many people jobs. About 48% of the country’s earnings and 8 out of 10 jobs are thanks to them, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
Even though a lot of small businesses have closed in the past years, the number of jobs they provide went up by 3.5%. So, it’s important to thank the banks and other groups that help these businesses because they make the economy grow stronger.
The awards, divided into 18 different sections, focused on banks and companies that create special help and services for these small and medium businesses. Every year, the awards are given in partnership with The Economic Forum Series (EFS) to celebrate financial groups and other organizations for their clever ideas and their sincere effort to help businesses with their specific needs.
The winners were picked carefully by Nairalytics, which is the research and decision-making part of Newslodge, along with the Editorial Advisory Board of Economic Forum Media Limited.
Here are some of the award categories and winners:
- Best MSME Agri Finance
- Best MSME Trade Finance
- Best in MSME Health Insurance
- Best MSME Insurance Company of the Year
- Best in MSME Partnership and Collaboration (CSR Initiative)
- Best in Payment Security, Data Protection & Fraud Prevention
- Best in MSME Non-Interest Banking
- Best in MSME Finance for Women & Youth Entrepreneurship
- Best in MSME Financial Inclusion (Non-Interest Banking)
- Best in MSME Financial Inclusion (DFI): Winner – BoI-ITC (BoI Investment & Trust Company Ltd)
- Nigerian-Export-Import Bank (NEXIM)
- Best in MSME Financial Inclusion (Micro Finance Bank)
- Best in MSME Financial Inclusion (FinTech Card)
- Best in MSME Financial Inclusion (Bank): Nominees – Sterling Bank, FCMB
- Best in MSME Lending
- Best MSME Payment/Remittance Platform
- MSME Payment Service Bank (PSB) of the Year
- MSME FinTech Platform of the Year
- MSME Microfinance Bank of the Year
- MSME Bank of the Year