By; AMOS TAUNA, Kaduna
A five billion fund for businesses was on Wednesday in Abuja, unveiled as part of a drive to bridge the financing gap in Nigeria’s Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector, the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN) in partnership with Sterling Bank.
Mr. Charles Odii, the Director General of SMEDAN, explained that the fund was designed to make access to finance easier for Nigerian businesses whose major challenge has been capital to start.
He further explained that the mandate of SMEDAN is to facilitate access to finance by MSMEs, that is why he said they have partnered Sterling Bank to sign the memorandum of understanding targeted at creating a N5bn fund at a single digit interest rate for small businesses across different sectors.
He added, “We will make these funds available in two weeks’ time and ensure that people key into it and our target is 10,000 MSMEs and ensure that the process is seamless across the country.”
The Chief Executive Officer of Sterling Bank, Abubakar Suleiman, while speaking stated that the credit facility would be given at a single digit rate, saying that it is part of the bank’s corporate social responsibility for businesses and out of the 10,000 MSMEs and hope 2,000 will outgrow their businesses and seek loan for commercial funding.
He said the bank would deliver it using technology platforms and ensure that access is seamless using a platform called ‘Banker’, which business owners can access anywhere in the country and not queue up anywhere on modalities for assessing the loans.
