Baobab Microfinance Bank has inaugurated a new head office at 129 Ikorodu Road, Lagos, relocating from Kaduna as part of a strategic expansion aimed at improving service delivery and deepening support for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises across Nigeria.
The bank, which has served over 500,000 businesses in Nigeria over the past 16 years, describes the move as a significant milestone in its growth journey.
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Why Lagos and why now
The decision to relocate the head office to Lagos was driven by the need for greater visibility and closer proximity to Nigeria’s commercial centre. Board Chairman Rotimi Oyekanmi noted that Lagos provides the ideal environment to engage more effectively with regulators, investors, and stakeholders while positioning the bank to compete more aggressively within the financial services sector.
For a microfinance institution whose core business is lending to small businesses, being headquartered in Nigeria’s busiest commercial city is not just symbolic — it is a strategic advantage.
To maintain operational continuity, existing offices in Yaba, Lagos, and Kaduna will continue to function as head office annexes, ensuring that the bank’s presence in other regions remains intact.
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What small businesses stand to gain
The expansion comes at a time when demand for accessible financial services among Nigerian MSMEs is rising. CEO Eric Ntumba stated that the new facility is designed to help the bank operate more efficiently, collaborate more seamlessly, and continue delivering financial solutions to the individuals and businesses it serves.
Beyond the new headquarters, the bank has announced plans to open an additional 100 branches over the next five years, a move that would significantly extend its reach to underserved businesses across the country.
With over 38 branches currently spread across 16 states, scaling to 100 additional locations would make Baobab one of the most physically accessible microfinance lenders in Nigeria, particularly for SMEs in secondary cities and semi-urban areas.
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The bigger picture
Group CEO Philip Sigwart noted that Nigeria is one of the most strategic markets within Baobab’s broader African footprint, with ambitions to make it the group’s largest. The Paris-headquartered group operates across multiple African countries and views Nigeria’s MSME sector as central to its continental growth strategy.
For Nigerian small businesses, the arrival of a more operationally capable Baobab in Lagos means greater access to credit, faster processing, and more targeted financial products at a time when many SMEs are still navigating tight borrowing conditions and high operating costs.
