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 yesterday in Abuja unveiled a 5 billion fund for businesses.
Director General of SMEDAN, Mr. Charles Odii said the fund was designed to make access to finance easier for Nigerian businesses whose major challenge has been capital to start.
“The mandate of SMEDAN is to facilitate access to finance by MSMEs, which is why today, we have partnered Sterling Bank to sign this memorandum of understanding targeted at creating a N5bn fund at a single digit interest rate for small businesses across different sectors.
“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,” Odii said.
Also speaking, the Chief Executive Officer of Sterling Bank, Abubakar Suleiman said, “The credit facility will be given at a single digit rate, which is part of the bank’s corporate social responsibility for businesses and out of the 10,000 MSMEs, we hope 2,000 will outgrow their businesses and seek loan for commercial funding.”
On the modalities for accessing the loans, he said the bank “Will 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,”
