Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State, and Olukayode Pitan, managing director of Bank of Industry (BoI), have agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on N2 billion matching fund to support productive venture in agriculture and solid mineral in the state.
The Ebonyi State Government would be providing N1 billion, which would be matched with N1 billion from the BoI, to ensure loans are provided to small scale businesses at a single-digit interest rate.
Governor Umahi who stated this after a closed door meeting with the BoI managing director in Abuja, said the fund would support productive venture in agribusiness and the solid mineral sector in the state, which he noted was where the state had comparative advantage.
The governor said, “The N1 billion is our own hard earned money, which we had already set out for the empowerment of our people. We also have a lot of our people who are in Lagos and in other major cities doing hawking, hence we are using these funds to exit them from these major cities, so that they could come back to the state and lay their hand on other productive venture.
“Already, about 1,000 of such major city hawkers have benefited from our interventions, and we still have about 3,000 of them we must support, the governor explained further.
“So, instead of just giving them this N250,000 as a grant, we could increase it to N500,000, so that 250,000 of it could be loan as a component from the BoI, and the other N250,000 as a grant.”
On the specific programmes the matching fund would be channelled to, the Governor said, “We are looking at empowerment through productive venture that includes: rice production, cassava production, maize production. Some would also go into small manufacturing venture such as salt, where we have lots of advantage, like the bye-product of salt which is soda for water treatment.”
In his response, managing director of BoI said the bank would support initiatives of the state government in establishing small-scale industries, while ensuring they own and manage their own business venture properly.
“We would guide and support small-scale businesses with off takers, on how to go about it in their business. In Ebonyi also, while the emphasis is on solid mineral, we have a team that provide support and guide to local miners,” he said.
He pointed out further that the BoI and the state government would also jointly look into the projects that would be financed to ensure the meet the required criteria and get all the needed business support services.
“It is a good place to start, that is N1 billion from Ebonyi State and N1 billion from us making N2 billion is a good starting point for us,” he said.
He also notes further that the BoI and the state government could also have a phase two and three of the projects for the fund, as long as they meet up to the criteria, and support the SMEs for wealth creation.
Our people must be trained to embark on productive venture. We must also look at our curriculum of education in higher learning to encourage entrepreneurial training of our people, the managing director notes further.
He noted that the BoI was also working towards reviewing the strategy of its interventions to ensure easier access of its intervention funds for wealth creation.
