L-R: Bemigho Awala, Public and Media Relations Manager, Moniepoint; Constance Onyeji-Jarret, People Business Partner, TeamApt Limited; Femi Davies, SVP, Cards, Moniepoint; Frank Aigbogun, Publisher, BusinessDay; Iwalola Sobowale, Director, Customer Experience Research, Moniepoint; and Ezekiel Sanni, SVP, Distribution Network Services, Moniepoint, at the 2026 BusinessDay BAFI Awards, held in Lagos recently.
From John Silas, Lagos
Moniepoint Microfinance Bank (MFB) has been named SME Microfinance Bank of the Year for the third consecutive year at the 14th BusinessDay Banks and Other Financial Institutions (BAFI) Awards.
Tosin Eniolorunda, Co-founder and Group CEO of Moniepoint Inc., also won SME Finance Transformation Leader of the Year at the ceremony.
The awards follow a year of scale for the bank. According to Moniepoint’s 2025 Year in Review, its microfinance bank disbursed over ₦1 trillion in credit to thousands of small businesses, whose transaction value grew by more than 36 per cent on average after they accessed credit. Moniepoint uses alternative data such as transaction histories, business patterns and payment behaviour to assess creditworthiness.
Moniepoint also reports that Moniepoint MFB serves over 6 million active businesses and powers eight in every 10 in-person payments in Nigeria as the country’s largest merchant acquirer. The leading microfinance bank processed ₦412 trillion in transaction value across more than 14 billion transactions in 2025.
Ezekiel Sanni, Senior Vice President, Distribution Network Sales at Moniepoint, who represented the Co-Founder/Group CEO at the event, said the recognition reinforces the bank’s commitment to the small business segment.
“We are honoured to be named SME Microfinance Bank of the Year by BusinessDay. Small businesses are the backbone of the Nigerian economy, and this award strengthens our commitment to give them the credit, payments and tools they need to scale. We will keep expanding access to credit and investing in the network that serves them, so that more businesses across the country can build with confidence,” Sanni said.
Sanni also spoke on the recognition for Tosin Eniolorunda, the company’s Group CEO. “The SME Finance Transformation Leader award recognises the direction Tosin Eniolorunda has set for Moniepoint, which is to make quality financial services available to small businesses, which points to where the business is headed. We are working towards a financial system in which every small business, in every part of the country, can access the services it needs to grow,” he said.
The BAFI recognition adds to other honours Moniepoint Microfinance Bank has received, including Best Financial Institution in Women Empowerment from the Association of Professional Women Bankers and Marketing Campaign of the Year (Brand) at the Creative Impact Institute Awards. Moniepoint MFB was also recently honoured for Innovative Digital Financial Solutions for Women at the Presidential Committee on Economic and Financial Inclusion (PreCEFI) She’s Included Conference, solidifying its position as a market leader in providing financial services for millions of Nigerian MSMEs.
Organised by BusinessDay, the BAFI Awards honour institutions whose performance, innovation and leadership contribute to the development of Nigeria’s financial system. The 2026 edition presented 67 awards across payments, lending, investment management, capital markets, insurance, pensions and trusteeship.
