BoI/Oyo N1bn SMEs fund: 88 people to benefit from loan

At least 88 people have been screened and recommended to benefit from the N1 billion Bank of Industry (BoI) and Oyo State government counterpart fund.

So far, 155 persons were screened by the bank while the 88 people had been recommended to be beneficiaries.

At a meeting with management of the bank and Oyo State government in Ibadan, secretary to the state government, Ismail Olalekan Alli, solicited more support of the bank to tackle poverty and crime through the provision of funds for small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) and other businesses in the state.

The support of the bank is needed in order to provide loans to medium and small businesses through interest-free loans, to develop infrastructure and provide conducive environment for women, traders, youth and other entrepreneurs in the state, Alli said. Through this, he said, poverty, crimes and other social vices in the state would be reduced.

He said the Governor Abiola Ajimobi’s led administration in its bid in making the state a toast for business owners and investors had restored the peace that eluded the state before it came on board with adequate support for the security agents, pointing out that the state government’s motive was to raise the standard of living of the people.

He said the state government had also created the bureau of investment promotion to ensure that all the state efforts in promoting economy were not dashed, disclosing that beneficiaries of the loans were drawn from the medium and small scale industries.

The government has commenced the first phase of disbursement of the N300 million to traders, he said, saying the interest-free loans will assist in the manufacturing, production and other sectors of the economy and not all about buying and selling.

Waheed Olagunju, leader of the bank’s delegation, who is also the executive director, SME, BoI, pledged the support of the bank for the government in financing projects to promote the economy, most especially, medium and small enterprises.

Olagunju, who disclosed that the bank had concluded plans to establish state offices across the federation for the easy running of the administration of the organisation, said so far the bank had assisted 40 business owners who were doing well in the state. The meeting was for the screening and recommendation of beneficiaries of the N1 billion loan.

Remi Feyisipo