NCGC unlocks N46.9bn in loans, but women get just 17%

…As GuaranteeHer targets credit gap

Nigeria’s National Credit Guarantee Company (NCGC) has unlocked M46.95 billion in loans for businesses in its first year of operation, but women-owned enterprises accounted for only 16.8 percent of beneficiaries, exposing a persistent gender gap in access to formal credit.

The NCGC provided N21.59 billion in risk cover through 19 participating financial institutions (PFIs), comprising 13 commercial banks, three microfinance banks and three development finance institutions, according to its inaugural impact report.

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The intervention reached 67,512 end-borrowers across 25 states and the Federal Capital Territory, with about 22,600, or 33.5 percent, classified as first-time formal borrowers.

The credit intervention also supported an estimated 661,291 direct and indirect jobs, highlighting the potential of credit guarantees to expand lending to businesses that conventional banking models often consider too risky.

But the gender breakdown reveals a major weakness in the emerging credit architecture.

Only 11,374 beneficiaries were female-owned enterprises, representing about 16.8 percent of total borrowers.

That gap is significant because women-owned businesses remain among the groups facing the greatest structural barriers to formal financing, particularly collateral requirements, borrowing costs and limited access to financial institutions.

NCGC is now seeking to address that imbalance with GuaranteeHer, a specialised…