Sterling Bank signs renewable energy, SMEs financing deal

Regional Director for Nigeria, Proparco, Xavier Echsseriau; Chief Executive Officer, French Development Agency, Christophe Lecourtier; and Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Sterling Bank, Abubakar Suleiman, during the signing in Lagos recently.

Sterling Bank has signed a $30m credit facility with Proparco, the private sector financing arm of the French Development Agency Group, to support renewable energy projects and small and medium-sized enterprises in Nigeria’s agricultural value chain.

The financing is expected to expand access to clean energy, support local businesses and strengthen agricultural production through improved access to credit.

The agreement was signed recently at Sterling Bank’s head office in Lagos by the bank’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Abubakar Suleiman, and the Chief Executive Officer of the French Development Agency, Christophe Lecourtier.

Commenting on the agreement, Suleiman said Nigeria’s electricity challenge increasingly requires financing for decentralised energy solutions rather than relying solely on the expansion of the national grid.

“We have long treated Nigeria’s power problem as a generation problem waiting for the grid to solve it. Increasingly, it is a financing problem with a distributed solution,” he said.

Under the arrangement, 80 per cent of the facility, equivalent to $24m, will be allocated to renewable energy projects, while the remaining $6m will support SMEs operating across agricultural value chains.

The renewable energy component will focus particularly on decentralised electricity solutions, including off-grid solar power systems, to improve access to reliable electricity for households and businesses.

The partnership comes amid persistent electricity access challenges in Nigeria, where more than one-third of the population still lacks access to electricity.

The financing is also expected to help reduce dependence on fossil fuels, stimulate economic activities and strengthen the resilience of communities to climate-related challenges.

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The agreement represents the first step towards a long-term partnership between both institutions and aligns with Sterling Bank’s HEART strategy, which prioritises financing for health, education, agriculture, renewable energy and transportation.

He added that many households and businesses already spent money on generator-powered electricity but lacked the capital to switch to cleaner alternatives.

Suleiman revealed that the facility would also address financing constraints facing agricultural businesses, where access to credit across the value chain remained a challenge.

Beyond the new facility, Sterling Bank said it was pursuing a target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, with solar installations already deployed at its headquarters and nearly half of its branches and automated teller machines.

The bank also operates Imperium, a platform that provides access to renewable energy equipment and services, alongside a mobility initiative promoting electric transportation and employment opportunities, particularly for women.

Speaking on the partnership, Lecourtier said the financing would support access to clean energy, strengthen SMEs and promote investment in local agricultural value chains.

He added that the arrangement would encourage joint projects between Nigerian and French companies while supporting economic growth and job creation.

The partnership also aligns with Sterling Bank’s initiatives to promote women’s economic inclusion through programmes aimed at helping female entrepreneurs develop their skills and expand their businesses.