The Bank of Industry (BOI) has directed 80% of its large-enterprise lending to manufacturing and infrastructure, as the development finance institution steps up efforts to expand productive capacity, improve local production and create jobs across Nigeria’s economy.
Olasupo Olusi, managing director and chief executive officer of BOI, disclosed this while reviewing the bank’s progress under its 2025-2027 corporate strategy, which seeks to double its loan book, disbursements and development impact within three years.
The focus on manufacturing and infrastructure comes as BOI seeks to link financing to measurable economic outcomes, including employment, enterprise growth and increased output, while expanding access to long-term capital for businesses.
The bank’s 2025 Annual Development Impact Report shows that BOI disbursed a record N644.9 billion during the year, representing a 26 percent increase from N510.9 billion in 2024. The financing supported 12,501 businesses and generated an estimated impact of 1.68 million jobs, comprising direct, indirect and supported employment across value chains.
The report also estimated that BOI’s interventions contributed approximately 2 percent to manufacturing gross domestic product, underscoring the role of development finance in supporting industrial activity.
However, the report shows that large enterprises accounted for 59 percent of the bank’s 2025 disbursements, while small and medium-sized enterprises received 29 percent, micro enterprises 5 percent and nano businesses 7 percent. BOI said more than 30 percent of its total financing went to nano and micro, small and medium-sized businesses, reflecting efforts to combine support for established firms with wider access to finance.
Under its current corporate strategy, the bank has set targets to allocate 35 percent of funding to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, direct at least a quarter of large credits to infrastructure, and increase financing for women-owned businesses, youth-led enterprises, the digital economy and climate-related projects.
Olusi said the bank was pursuing a broader development mandate that prioritises the outcomes of lending rather than the amount disbursed alone.
In 2025, MSMEs received 41 percent of BOI’s funding, above its 35 percent target. Women-owned businesses received N120.9 billion, while women- and youth-focused businesses each accounted for 20 percent of financing, according to the bank’s strategy review.
The impact report also highlights results beyond the volume of lending. BOI financing linked 47,508 smallholder farmers to processing plants, while 100 mini-grids supported electricity connections for 11,777 households and businesses in rural areas. Its rural broadband infrastructure programme also supported more than 700 communities.
In the food and beverages sector, the report recorded a 67 percent reduction in raw-material imports among the businesses covered by its assessment, pointing to the potential for financing to support local sourcing and import substitution. The report also identified 1,615 startups financed and more than 1,000 women-owned businesses directly supported.
The bank has also expanded its funding base to support its lending ambitions. Olusi said BOI mobilised a pound 1.879 billion syndicated facility in 2024 and secured pound 210 million from international development partners in 2025. In 2026, it raised a N250 billion development bond, which was oversubscribed, and secured European Investment Bank financing of pound 85 million for agriculture and pound 50 million for healthcare manufacturing.
The bank said the additional funding would help it provide financing across priority sectors, including agriculture, local healthcare manufacturing, infrastructure and the digital economy.
BOI has also been implementing a N200 billion Federal Government intervention package comprising a N50 billion Presidential Conditional Grant Scheme, a N75 billion MSME Intervention Fund and a N75 billion Manufacturing Sector Fund. According to the bank, more than 95 percent of the intervention had been delivered, reaching 957,400 grant beneficiaries, 9,000 MSMEs and 104 large manufacturers.
Its Rural Area Programme on Investment for Development (RAPID) disbursed N6.5 billion to 880 rural enterprises across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, supporting more than 8,000 jobs.
For 2027, BOI plans to work with the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment on a National Industrial Finance Compact, deploy European Investment Bank funds to agriculture and local healthcare manufacturing, and expand its information and communications technology portfolio through the Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises (iDICE) programme.
The bank’s challenge will be to sustain the growth in lending while ensuring that financing translates into stronger industrial output, more competitive businesses and durable employment. Its 2025 impact report provides evidence of activity across manufacturing, agriculture, infrastructure and enterprise development, although the reported 1.68 million jobs combine direct, indirect and supported jobs and are estimates rather than a count of direct hires alone.
As BOI moves towards the end of its 2025-2027 strategy period, the extent to which its large-enterprise lending expands productive capacity and strengthens domestic value chains will remain an important measure of the economic impact of its financing.