Canada and Germany join forces with Nigeria to support local women entrepreneurs

With Canada committing 5 million Canadian dollars – which equals 3.4 million euros – in co-financing, the cooperation builds on the IKI Small Grants “Funding the Funders” approach, enabling local actors to access climate and biodiversity financing through funding institutions in partner countries. With Canada’s financial contribution and Germany’s technical support through the IKI Small Grants programme, the initiative will run until August 2029, allowing the Development Bank of Nigeria to establish a funding programme across the country. The state-owned bank will provide small grants and targeted trainings to women-led micro, small and medium enterprises.

These measures are intended to ensure that companies contribute to climate and biodiversity protection with their products or services, reduce their carbon emissions, and better manage the impacts of climate change. The collaboration aims to reach 5,000 businesses, resulting in approximately 25,000 indirect beneficiaries, including community members. All 5,000 enterprises will receive capacity development, and the 240 most promising ones will be selected for additional seed funding to further enhance their businesses.

The focus is on rural regions, where women in particular are struggling with the consequences of climate change while lacking access to the funds needed to address local effects. For DBN's managing director, Dr. Tony Okpanachi, achieving social impact through funding is one of the bank's main objectives.

“This partnership with Global Affairs Canada and IKI Small Grants allows us to reach women entrepreneurs who face barriers to accessing climate financing in Nigeria,” says Theresa Lawal, Head of Product Development & Strategic Alliances at DBN. Through the co-financing from Canada, Germany’s IKI Small Grants can support DBN in providing grants for women-led micro, small or medium enterprises – putting them in a better position to adapt to impacts of climate change while growing their business and contributing to the economy. 

“Imagine a woman running an off-grid business adopting solar solutions, or a smallholder farmer transitioning to climate-smart agriculture,” Theresa Lawal describes the target group. “Women in Nigeria receive less than 20% of available funding. This programme will increase financial inclusion, enhance women’s contribution to climate action, and improve their ability to adapt to climate change.”

For Global Affairs Canada, the significance of the initiative lies in its commitment to gender equality, climate action, and economic empowerment in Africa. Arash Irantalab, Head of Development Cooperation at the High Commission of Canada in Nigeria emphasises, “Canada works with African partners by increasing mutually beneficial economic opportunities and advancing key priorities on the international stage to address global challenges, including climate change.” 

The decision to work with IKI Small Grants was based on the requirement “to partner with an initiative that has proven to be effective and successful – thus building on global partnerships for better results in local development.”

As various international agreements state, local climate and biodiversity action is essential for global transformation. As one of its financing mechanisms, IKI Small Grants funds national or regional institutions that channel small grants directly to local actors. Simply put, IKI Small Grants “funds the funders”. 

Working with Canadian co-financing channelled through IKI Small Grants, the Development Bank of Nigeria can plan and run a national funding programme, choose the recipients of the small grants and process payouts, while addressing them in their local language and lowering the administrative hurdles for accessing climate financing.

This project is co-financed by Global Affairs Canada and implemented within the IKI Small Grants programme strengthening local solutions for effective climate and biodiversity action. IKI Small Grants is funded by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and run by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. It is part of Germany‘s International Climate Initiative (IKI).

More about IKI Small Grants

You can find details about the Funding the Funders approach in this video: