Access Bank plots N200bn digital loan growth with DBA Lite launch

Access Bank Plc., says it is planning to double the size of its digital loans to N200 billion at the end of the year with the launch of DBA Lite, a business solution targeted at youth entrepreneurs.

The Executive Director, Retail Banking of the bank, Mr. Victor Etuokwu, disclosed this at a press conference to announce the launch of the product.

According to him, the bank presently disburses an average of N12 to N13 billion digitally on a monthly basis and controls more than 60 percent of digital loans in the Nigeria’s banking landscape.

DBA Lite, a variant of DBA (Trader Lite) account, according to the bank, is a business solution targeted at existing and prospective young entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 35 years and is designed to add value to their businesses and expose them to the investor community.

Young entrepreneurs, who sign on to the business solution, would have access to digital loans, payment acceptance services of the bank like SwiftPay and also join the entrepreneurial and networking community of other subscribers.

More so, they stand a chance of enjoying access to information and training as well as business registration for intending young business owners among other value propositions.

Speaking at the event, Etuokwu said the bank is encouraged to also focus on the young entrepreneurs, who need support to drive their businesses, given the significant success it had recorded in other business support programmes targeted at women entrepreneurs and other SMEs.

“Access Bank has always pride itself on being a facilitator of economic growth in the nation. We like to be involved in anything that grows the economy whether in what we do with women, or any other segment of the economy. So, all we are doing as a bank is to see how we can support the youths.

“What we are trying to say is that you don’t have to be an employee as a youth; join in the crusade to create jobs and let’s address the unemployment situation in the country,” he said.

Ayodele Olojode, Group Head, Emerging Businesses, Access Bank, speaking, said: “What we are trying to do is to help the young entrepreneurs to leverage the digital skills that they have.

“So, most of the learning will be on how they can optimise presence online. What you will find following the Covid-19 pandemic is that there has been an increase in online presence, tech businesses and an increase in digital inventions. So, we are also aligning our propositions and trying to anchor them around digital.”