Baobab MFB Distributes N55bn Loans in a Decade

A leading digital financial inclusion group focusing on serving individuals, micro and small businesses Baobab Micro Finance Bank Limited has said the bank made significant contribution to the Nigerians economy since it commenced business 10 years ago.

This was disclosed by its Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Kazeem Olanrewaju, at the bank’s 10th anniversary dinner held in Lagos recently, which he also said over 100,000 customers have enjoyed one form of loan or the other from Baobab.

Meanwhile, he said the financial institution has disbursed over N55 billion loans in the past 10 years.

According to his explanation, he said, “Our disbursement is in excess of N55 billion. Today, we have outstanding loan customers, people who still have our money with them, about 23,000 plus and our outstanding loans about N9 billion.

“On the average every month, we disburse N1.7 to N2 billion. So, this year, we have disbursed over N15 billion and we target to disburse about N30 billion, we still have about four months to go, So, this is the story, from a humble background of one branch to now 20, less than 1000 customers to well over 300,000 customers.

“I can also tell you that customer confidence in the bank has grown. I remember about five years ago, total deposit in the bank was about N200 million. Today, we are talking about N4 billion and we are still counting. I can tell you that in the last two years, our deposit has been on the increase. There is no month we will have a deposit less than the previous month.”

He added, “For me, this is an acceptance from the public, anybody can come to you to borrow money, but not everyone can trust you to the extent that they will give you that kind of deposit.

“I will expect that before the end of the year, our deposit should grow by N5 billion to N6 billion and maybe our loan should be about N12 billion. That will mean at 50 percent coverage; the ultimate thing is to have 100 per cent coverage.

 “We have deposit and we have the loans. This is what the story is like and today, we have over 500 staff working in Baoboab. In a country where unemployment is a challenge, that is a big contribution and I expect that this will rise to about 700 by the end of this year. It is also important to say that the number of staff has continued to increase in the last four years and this we expect to continue.”

The Group Chief Executive Officer, Baobab Group, Phillip Sigwart, also said: the group intends to build a very strong bank in Nigeria to serve small businesses because it is that sector that great more jobs and drive the economy.

He revealed that, the Baobab group would also explore opportunities in other African countries like Ghana and east Africa.

He added that Nigeria, cannot always depend on oil to drive the economy because the sector does not create jobs.