BoI disburses N700m to MSMEs in Taraba
In a bid to drive job creation and the growth of small businesses in Taraba State, the Bank of Industry (BoI) has disbursed N700 million to entrepreneurs in the state.
According to the bank, the funds, which were pulled together by the state government and BoI under its matching fund scheme following the execution of a Memorandum of Understanding for the establishment of a N700 million Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Fund, will boost economic activities and curtail unemployment.
Rasheed Olaoluwa, managing director, BoI, while speaking at the cheque presentation ceremony to beneficiaries under the scheme, said a large number of the loan applications were
deficient in either documentation or by virtue of line of businesses not covered by the bank.
Olaoluwa noted that before the advent of the matching fund scheme in the state, the bank had invested over N90.6 million of BoI funds in support of genuine businesses, adding that some beneficiaries include Al-Umalau Nigeria Limited, Bombillac Integrated Farms, Tsoro Women MPCS, Mal Kings MPCS, Wainabe MPCS, Master Bakers’ projects under the Cassava
Bread Fund and a core of other businesses.
“With the state government’s intervention, a total of 130 projects cut across all local government areas in the state was realised. Amounts were set for each beneficiary between N1.5 million and N1.7 million but not exceeding a total of N215.0m to be processed wholly from the state government’s portion of the fund,” he said.
“Out of this number, 75 projects doing various aspects of processing and value addition totalling about N118, 971,766.69 were approved by the bank. It is, however, important to point out that only 52 of the 75 beneficiaries who got approval accepted the offers.
“Out of the 52 who have accepted the loan offers, 40 cooperatives have been processed for disbursement out of which 18 benefitting cooperatives that are ready for issuance today would be issued with their respective cheques for the acquisition of raw materials to enhance their productive activities. The remaining 22 cooperatives will also be receiving their cheques in a week’s time as their documentations have been fully processed,” he explained.
The BoI boss added that the bank has embarked on several initiatives to make access to finance easier for small businesses.
“MSMEs are confronted with low level of financial support because their business plans and loan requests are poorly packaged and non-bankable. In order to address these challenges, BoI has appointed 200 Business Development Service Providers (BDSPs) in three categories of state, zonal and national coverage to package loan proposals/business plans for the bank’s prospective customers as well as provide post-finance services such as mentorship, handholding, financial advice and inculcation of best practices.
“We have adopted a cluster-based product programmes in project financing on the basis of the comparative advantages of the local government areas of the federation in terms of their natural resource endowments, as well as established state offices in some states of the Federation in order to bring the bank’s services closer to entrepreneurs in those states,” he explained.
Odinaka Anudu