5th February, 2016
The Bank of Industry (BoI) has disbursed N700 million in loans under its Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises Development Fund to 52 beneficiaries in Taraba State.
This is contained in a statement from BoI which was made available to newsmen on Friday in Lagos.
The statement said that the fund was pooled by Taraba State Government and the bank under its Matching Fund Scheme following the execution of a Memorandum of Understanding for its establishment.
Mr Rasheed Olaoluwa, the Managing Director of the bank, was quoted as saying at the cheque presentation ceremony that BoI had invested over N90.6 million in SMEs in the state before the advent of the scheme.
The statement listed some beneficiaries to include – Al-Umalau Nig. Ltd, Bombillac Integrated Farms, Tsoro Women MPCS, Mal Kings MPCS, Wainabe MPCS and Master Bakers’ projects under the Cassava Bread Fund.
“With the State Government’s intervention, a total of 130 projects, cutting across all local government areas in the state were realised.
“Out of this number, 75 projects doing various aspects of processing and value addition totaling about N119 million were approved by the bank.
“It is, however, important to point out that only 52 of the 75 beneficiaries who got approval accepted the offer.
“Out of the 52 who have accepted the loan offers, 40 co-operatives have been processed for disbursement out of which 18 benefiting co-operatives are ready for issuance today.
“Their respective cheques will be issued 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 documentation have been fully processed.
“Amounts set for each beneficiary is between N1.5 million and N1.7 million, but not exceeding a total of N215 million to be processed wholly from the state government’s portion of the fund,” Olaoluwa said.
According to the statement, Olaoluwa, however, said that large numbers of loan applications sent to the bank had inadequate documentation.
It said that “MSMEs are confronted with low level of financial support because their business plans and loan requests are poorly packaged and non-bankable.”
The statement said that to address these challenges, BoI had appointed 200 Business Development Service Providers (BDSPs) to package loan proposals for the bank’s prospective customers.
It said that the BDSPs would also provide post-finance services such as mentorship, handholding, financial advice and inculcation of best practices to SME operators.
The statement said that the bank had embarked on several initiatives to make access to finance easier for small businesses in the country.