The World Bank has approved a $500 million financing package to address chronic funding shortages plaguing Nigeria’s micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), the engine of the country’s economy.

Announced in a press release on Saturday, the funding supports the Fostering Inclusive Finance for MSMEs in Nigeria (FINCLUDE) project, a blended facility combining $400 million from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and $100 million in concessional credit from the International Development Association (IDA).

MSMEs form the backbone of Nigeria’s business landscape, representing the vast majority of enterprises, contributing nearly 50% of gross domestic product, and providing a substantial portion of employment. Yet, formal credit remains elusive: fewer than one in twenty MSMEs secure bank loans, with available financing often short-term, high-cost, and heavily reliant on collateral that excludes many viable businesses.

Women-led enterprises face heightened barriers, including higher rejection rates and a lack of tailored products, while agribusinesses—vital for food security and rural economies—struggle to obtain longer-term funding for essential investments in equipment, processing, storage, and logistics.

The FINCLUDE project, implemented by the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN)—a wholesale development finance institution established with prior World Bank support in 2017—and its subsidiary Impact Credit Guarantee Limited (ICGL), aims to bridge these gaps. Through DBN, the initiative will build capacity among commercial banks, microfinance institutions, non-bank lenders, and fintech companies to offer larger loans with extended, more flexible repayment terms. ICGL will expand partial credit guarantees, covering up to 60% of loan risk in some cases, to de-risk lending to high-potential but traditionally underserved borrowers.

A key innovation includes targeted technical assistance to digitize and modernize loan processes. Participating institutions will adopt AI-enabled platforms to enhance credit appraisal, improve data analytics, accelerate decisions, and strengthen impact tracking. World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Mathew Verghis, who assumed the role in July 2025, emphasized the project’s focus on inclusive growth.

“FINCLUDE is about jobs, opportunity, and inclusion,” Verghis said. “By opening finance for viable MSMEs—particularly women-led firms and agribusinesses—Nigeria can accelerate growth and deliver tangible benefits in communities nationwide. The project will make it easier for deserving small businesses to get the finance they need to grow and hire workers. With better support for lenders that practice inclusive finance and fairer, longer-term loans for entrepreneurs, we are backing the people who power Nigeria’s economy—especially women and those in agriculture.”

Hadija Kamayo, Task Team Leader for FINCLUDE and a World Bank financial sector specialist, highlighted the leverage potential.

“FINCLUDE will help mobilize approximately $1.89 billion in private capital, expand debt financing to about 250,000 MSMEs—including at least 150,000 women-led businesses and 100,000 agribusinesses—and issue up to $800 million in credit guarantees to catalyse additional lending,” she said.

By extending average loan maturities to around three years, she added, businesses can invest in productive assets, driving productivity gains, workforce expansion, and sustained job creation. This approval builds on earlier World Bank efforts, including a 2014 $500 million initiative that helped establish DBN and mobilize over $1.3 billion in commitments. ICGL, launched in 2020, has already supported thousands of MSMEs through risk-sharing mechanisms.

The new project aligns with Nigeria’s broader economic reforms amid challenges like inflation, currency pressures, and debt management. Nigeria’s external debt reached $46.98 billion as of mid-2025, with the World Bank as its largest creditor.

Analysts view FINCLUDE as a timely intervention in a sector where unmet MSME financing needs remain vast, estimated in billions regionally. The project is expected to catalyze broader economic resilience, particularly in rural and women-driven segments critical to poverty reduction and shared prosperity by prioritizing inclusion and private sector mobilization. Implementation details, including rollout timelines, are expected in the coming months as DBN ramps up partnerships with financial institutions nationwide.

Google and Apple have advised employees on visas not to travel outside the United States, as significant delays at U.S. embassies and consulates threaten to leave workers stranded abroad for months.

Internal memos reviewed by Business Insider reveal that these warnings come amid an ongoing Trump administration-led immigration crackdown, which has tightened scrutiny on H-1B visa holders and other non-immigrant workers.

The advisories come at a time when routine visa processing has become increasingly unpredictable. In a Thursday memo from BAL Immigration Law, which represents Google, staff were cautioned that “some U.S. Embassies and Consulates are experiencing significant visa stamping appointment delays, currently reported as up to 12 months.” Employees needing visa stamps to re-enter the U.S. were urged to avoid international travel, as delays could result in “an extended stay outside the U.S.”

Apple issued a similar warning through its counsel, Fragomen, last week. The memo emphasized that employees without a valid H-1B visa stamp should refrain from traveling internationally. For those who cannot postpone travel, employees were advised to consult Apple’s immigration team and Fragomen beforehand to assess risks.

The delays affect multiple visa categories, including H-1B for skilled workers, H-4 for dependents, F for students, J for exchange visitors, and M visas for vocational trainees. Google’s lawyers noted that these categories are particularly impacted by appointment backlogs, which have worsened due to enhanced social media screening requirements introduced by the Trump administration. The U.S. Department of State confirmed that it is now conducting “online presence reviews for applicants” and said appointment availability may change as resources are allocated. Expedited processing is available only in select cases.

The warnings coincide with a period of heightened immigration scrutiny. Under President Trump, the administration has implemented a sweeping crackdown on nonimmigrant visas, increasing vetting and imposing additional requirements on H-1B applicants. Earlier this year, a $100,000 fee was levied on new H-1B visas, adding to the financial and procedural burdens faced by foreign workers. Critics argue that the policies have made it harder for U.S. companies to hire and retain skilled international talent.

Visa delays are being reported across regions. Appointments have been postponed in countries including India, Ireland, and Vietnam, with some applicants waiting months for rescheduled dates, according to immigration firms. For employees already outside the U.S., the situation is particularly precarious, as delays may prevent timely re-entry, leaving workers in legal limbo.

Immigration experts emphasize that even workers with valid visas could be affected if consulates cancel or postpone appointments for renewals.

“If travel isn’t essential right now, better to stay put,” said Jason Finkelman, an immigration attorney specializing in employment and family visas. “Enhanced vetting and unpredictable consular scheduling mean even routine trips can result in prolonged stays abroad.”

The H-1B program, which caps new visas at 85,000 annually, remains a core pipeline for U.S. tech companies seeking skilled workers. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, filed 5,537 H-1B applications in the 2024 fiscal year, while Apple applied for 3,880, according to U.S. Department of Labor and USCIS data analyzed by Business Insider. The stricter immigration environment has compounded challenges for companies reliant on global talent, forcing major tech firms to reconsider international travel for employees on critical visas.

Potential Impacts on U.S. Tech Sector Hiring and Project Timelines

The ongoing visa delays could have far-reaching consequences for the U.S. tech sector. Companies like Google, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta depend heavily on H-1B workers to fill highly specialized roles, ranging from software engineering and AI development to cybersecurity and cloud infrastructure. Prolonged absences of key employees due to visa delays risk disrupting project timelines, delaying product launches, and slowing innovation pipelines.

Some firms are expected to face difficulty meeting contractual obligations for projects dependent on international talent. Startups and smaller tech companies, which often rely almost entirely on foreign specialists, are particularly vulnerable. Delays in onboarding H-1B workers can also create talent gaps at critical junctures, forcing companies to reallocate existing employees, outsource work, or even postpone expansion plans.

Long-term effects could extend to hiring strategies. The combination of extended processing times and heightened scrutiny may discourage highly skilled professionals from accepting U.S. offers, prompting tech firms to explore alternatives such as remote work, offshoring, or relocation to countries with more predictable visa policies. These adjustments could have lasting implications for the competitiveness of the U.S. technology industry in the global market.

Elon Musk’s net worth has surged to an estimated $749 billion, putting him within striking distance of the $1 trillion threshold even before the separate $1 trillion pay package Tesla shareholders approved earlier this year.

The dramatic jump followed a landmark ruling by the Delaware Supreme Court on Friday, which reinstated Tesla stock options now valued at about $139 billion that had been voided by a lower court in 2024, according to Forbes’ billionaires index.

The ruling restored Musk’s 2018 CEO compensation plan, a milestone-based package that was initially valued at about $56 billion when it was granted but ballooned in value as Tesla’s share price soared. The court said rescinding the pay plan outright was an excessive remedy and unfair to Musk, effectively ending a years-long shareholder lawsuit that had cast uncertainty over one of the largest executive pay deals in corporate history.

But the significance of the decision goes far beyond the revived options themselves. It highlights just how close Musk already is to becoming the world’s first trillionaire based on existing assets alone, without factoring in the eye-watering future compensation Tesla has put on the table.

Musk’s wealth trajectory over the past decade has been unlike anything seen before. As recently as 2012, his net worth was estimated at under $10 billion, largely tied to his stakes in Tesla and SpaceX. Tesla’s rise from a niche electric vehicle maker into one of the world’s most valuable companies fundamentally altered that picture. Between 2019 and 2021, as Tesla shares surged more than tenfold, Musk vaulted past Jeff Bezos to become the world’s richest person, a position he has since cemented with a widening lead.

Tesla remains the single largest contributor to Musk’s fortune. His roughly 13% stake in the company, combined with stock options from the reinstated 2018 plan, accounts for several hundred billion dollars of his net worth. Even during periods of volatility in Tesla’s share price, Musk has retained enormous paper gains, underscoring how deeply his personal wealth is leveraged to the company’s equity performance.

SpaceX has emerged as the second major engine of Musk’s financial ascent. Valued privately at about $800 billion in recent funding rounds, the rocket and satellite company has become the most valuable private aerospace firm in the world. Reports early this month that SpaceX is edging closer to an initial public offering pushed Musk’s net worth past $600 billion for the first time, even before the Delaware ruling was handed down. A public listing of SpaceX, even a partial one, could unlock tens or hundreds of billions of dollars in additional value for Musk.

Beyond Tesla and SpaceX, Musk controls or holds significant stakes in xAI, Neuralink, and The Boring Company. While these ventures are smaller in valuation today, investors increasingly view them as long-term options on artificial intelligence, brain-computer interfaces, and next-generation infrastructure. In particular, xAI has benefited from the broader AI investment frenzy, adding yet another growth lever to Musk’s already sprawling empire.

Taken together, these assets mean Musk is already approaching the $1 trillion net worth milestone on paper, even without counting the new compensation framework Tesla shareholders approved in November. That plan, described as the largest corporate pay package ever proposed, could ultimately be worth around $1 trillion if Tesla hits a series of extremely ambitious market capitalization, revenue, and operational targets over the coming years. Importantly, those targets are additive, meaning they sit on top of Musk’s existing equity and wealth rather than replacing it.

In effect, the approved package positions Musk to potentially move far beyond the trillion-dollar mark if Tesla succeeds in executing his vision of transforming the company into a dominant force in artificial intelligence, robotics, and autonomous systems. Investors who backed the plan signaled that they see Musk not merely as an automaker CEO, but as the architect of a platform company whose future value could dwarf today’s valuations.

The Delaware Supreme Court’s decision also carries broader implications for Musk’s financial future. By rejecting the rescission of a shareholder-approved pay package, the ruling strengthens Musk’s hand in defending unconventional compensation structures tied to long-term performance. It also reassures markets that the legal risks surrounding his past pay have largely been cleared, removing a major overhang from Tesla’s governance narrative.

However, critics continue to argue that Musk’s wealth concentration and influence pose risks to corporate accountability and market stability. But supporters counter that his fortune is the product of extraordinary value creation, pointing to Tesla’s transformation of the global auto industry and SpaceX’s dominance in commercial spaceflight.

What is no longer in dispute is the scale of Musk’s financial ascent. With a net worth now pushing $750 billion, multiple high-growth assets still private, and a separate $1 trillion pay framework waiting in the wings, Musk stands closer than anyone in modern history to crossing the trillionaire threshold. This milestone once seemed implausible, but now looks increasingly within reach.