BoI pledges funding support to Edo agro-processors

The Bank of Industry (BoI) has pledged more funding support to agro processors in Edo State to enable them to create value for their agricultural produce.

Olukayode Pitan, managing director of the bank, gave the assurance recently at a meeting with the Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, at the government house in Benin City.

The visit was part of the familiarisation tours of the newly appointed BoI boss to states where the bank is having subsisting partnership on small medium enterprises development.

He expressed the readiness of the bank to provide funding support to industrialists in the state who were operating in the key areas of production activities already mapped out by the state government.

Pitan noted that plans were underway to raise close to N1trillion from both local and foreign development partners, stressing that the strong balance sheet would help boost its loan reach in the state.

“Edo State is one of the states where we have an existing relationship on SMEs development. The banks have supported a number of projects in the state and still committed to granting loans to genuine entrepreneurs,” he said.

“To enable the bank to extend its loan reach to the  teeming customers across the nation, plans are underway to raise between N500billion to N1trillion from both local and foreign development partners,” BoI’s MD said.

Godwin Obaseki, Edo State governor, said his government had identified key investment opportunity areas that would require strong financial back up from the bank.

Such areas include agro-processing, mining, real estate, industrial clusters, water and electricity.

He said if the large business had access to finance, it would rub off on the production activities of small business owners.

He noted that BoI had a unique role to play in the realisation of the state’s vision of becoming the industrial hub of the South-South through the development of industrial clusters and free trade zones.

As part of the activities for the one-day working visit to the state, the BoI boss visited some of the bank’s supported projects in the state.

Some of the companies visited include, Happiness Foam Industry Nigeria Limited, Benco Aluminium Steel Products Limited, makers of aluminium roofing sheets and stone coated metro tiles and Lit Foods Nigeria Limited, producer of wheat coated peanuts and chin-chin.

Briefing the BoI management team led by the MD,  Ijomoni Oghenekeuwe, executive director of operations for Lit Foods, said the loan support the company received from the bank helped in the expansion of its production lines.

Kelvin Izuchukwu,  managing director, Happiness Foam, praised the management of the bank for the loan facility, stressing that with BoI’s loan, the company had been able to increase its operations and employ more staff.

 

ODINAKA ANUDU