BoI set to increase funding access for MSMEs
In a bid to stimulate industrial revolution through increased funding access, the Bank of Industry (BoI) is putting in place plans to ramp up financial access for business operators in the category of Micro, Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (MSMEs).
Already, the development bank has disbursed N613 billion to both large and small enterprises, while setting up a number of programmes for MSMEs.
Waheed Olagunju, executive director, BoI, disclosed this weekend at the just concluded Lagos International Trade Fair held at Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos.
According to Olagunju, who represented Rasheed Olaoluwa, chief executive officer/ managing director, the bank has disbursed N613 billion to about 2,800 enterprises, 80 percent of which are SMEs. He said the 2800 enterprises have created thousands of jobs, stressing that the bank is determined to provide more facilities if it has more resources (in real terms). He pointed out that lean resources of the bank have made it impossible for all MSME operators who come to seek funds to get same, adding that the bank has already appointed about 120 personnel/ organisations that will assist MSME loan seekers to write bankable aaplications.
“We are on the path of reversing the trend,” Olagunju said. “We are ensuring that more resources are devoted to SMEs. We are designing a lot of products aimed at increasing assistance to SMEs. One of them is Cottage Agro Processing(CAP) Fund, which is a sector-specific intervention,” he added.
He further said the bank is intensifying its collaboration with foreign and local partners to source more funds for SMEs and industries.
Generally, the bank has disbursed N125 billion to 1,949 agro processors that have created 557,096 jobs. Those that have benefitted from the fund include players in cassava, oil palm, groundnut, maize, livestock and aquaculture, among others.
Ganiyu Mohammed, general manager, SME, said the bank takes small business owners seriously as loans lent to businesses in the category usually have more impact than those for large enterprises.
“If you give a large enterprise N5million for instance, the impact will be small. This is because the enterprise can only create few jobs. But if you give the same amount to a number of SME operators, they will employ many others,” he said, adding that the bank has created a product called ‘Bottom of the Pyramid,’ which is targeted at micro borrowers who are seeking N500,000 or less.
Wasiu Balogun, CEO, Polysmart Packaging Limited, testified of BoI’s positive disposition to small business owners. According to Balogun, the bank provided him a facility that enabled him increase staff strength in his firm from 30 to 160, while now operating in 12 states, rather than two states which he began with.
“The only thing I want to tell business owners who are seeking loans from BoI is to have good business plans. I had a good business plan; that was why it was a bit easy for me when I approached BoI,” he said.
In a similar vein, during a two-day media workshop entitled, ‘Building a Greater Nation through Sustained Transformation’ held in Abuja recently, Rasheed Olaoluwa, CEO of the bank, had said the bank has disbursed N3 billion to 55 players in the special sector, involving those in creative industry/ gender. The estimated number of jobs to be created are 15, 798.
Olaoluwa also said the bank manages the N13.6 billion Rice and Cassava Intervention Fund, which is aimed at ensuring that Nigeria achieves self-sufficiency in rice production.
ODINAKA ANUDU