A Nigerian based bank, Access Bank PLC says it is investing N30 billion in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises sector.
Group Managing Director of the bank, Mr Roosevelt Ogbonna, revealed this in an interview with State House Correspondents after he led the bank’s management on a visit to Vice President Kashim Shettima on Friday.
He said the funds to be disbursed in soft loans, would be targeted at women and youth entrepreneurs.
“Working with the office of the Vice President we want to change the lives of small businesses belonging to women and youths. We do agree and determine that about 66 percent of MSMEs in Nigeria are owned by women and the youth.
“And I think one of the challenges that they face is finance therefore, working with the office of the Vice President; we have agreed today that Access bank will provide about N30 billion towards supporting women and MSME’s and the youth.
“We will expect that this money will be done at discounted rate to commercial terms and we want to see how we can truly have a positive impact to this segment of the Nigerian economy so, we are excited to be part of that process and we thank the Vice President and his office for giving us this opportunity to be a partner,” he explained.
The Access Bank Group Managing Director further disclosed that the scheme would impact at least four million people and the entire process would be kick started immediately as directed by Vice President Shettima.
He said: “We do expect that this will impact at least four million people, given the four different programmes that we are doing so this is not just about lending, we are building capacity, by training the youths. We are ensuring that we can empower them through financing as well as finding new markets for these SMEs so that any product or service that they come up with they can find an outlet for.
“We are starting from today. We just have to look for the deserving MSMEs. We have been supporting SMEs and women for the last 16-17 years and all we are doing with this partnership is to give us significant impetus to do more.
“The Vice President has charged us to do less talking so we are now going to be on the streets to try and ensure that we get this off the ground immediately.”
Also speaking, Senior Special Adviser to the President on Medium and Small Scale Enterprises, Temitola Adekunle-Johnson said Nigeria’s business environment is very conducive for businesses to thrive.
He added that the scheme would help strengthen partnerships between the public and private sectors.
“The President has said to the entire world that Nigeria is ready and truly we are ready and our doors are open for business partnerships. You cannot thrive in this economy without the private sector nor can the private sector thrive without the public sector.
“So, for us it is a partnership that has come at the right time. They have pledged their own N30 Billion for MSMEs at a discounted rate of between 15-17 percent and this is a viable alternative for MSMEs and it is a programme that starts now. So we thank Access Bank and we want to still encourage further partnerships that can support the MSMEs space,” he said.
On the need for a level playing ground for prospective beneficiaries, he assured that all applicants who meet the requirements would be given the opportunity to access the facility.
