The World Bank has approved a credit of $500 million about N83 billion for Nigeria to increase access to finance by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Limited access to finance is a key obstacle to enterprise growth and entrepreneurship, particularly for young people, and it is a major obstacle faced by the SMEs, the bank said. Only 6.7 per cent of Nigerian firms reported having a loan or active line of credit in 2014, adding that SME lending made up only around 5 per cent of the total commercial bank lending. The World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Marie-Francoise Marie-Nelly, said, “women entrepreneurs in Nigeria are held back by knowledge gaps, limited access to markets and challenges regarding land ownership rights, which in turn, limit their access to finance. Specific attention will be paid to strengthening the capacity of businesswomen to address these challenges.”