15/04/2014
Bank of Industry (BoI), in collaboration with the Kano State Government, has began disbursement of a N2 billion loan facility to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the state. Under the first phase of the programme, N300 million was disbursed to 108 qualified SMEs in the state.
Kano State Governor, Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, who disclosed this while presenting cheques to beneficiaries at Government House in Kano explained that each beneficiary will receive between N1.7 million and N8.5 million, depending on their chosen businesses.
Explaining that the loan is interest free, Kwankwaso said government has forfeited the 10 per cent interest due to it but each beneficiary will pay five per cent of the loan collected, as administrative charges to the BoI.
Kwankwaso said the beneficiaries are expected to repay the loan within three years, assuring that 800 SMEs would benefit from the N2 billion loan package aimed at creating wealth and reducing the rate of unemployment in the state.
In her remarks, BoI Managing Director, Madam Evelyn Ndali Oputu, said her bank was encouraged to partner with the state government in providing the loan as a result of its economic policies.
Oputu advised the beneficiaries to utilise the loan appropriately, stressing that in the next phase of the disbursement, more women entrepreneurs would benefit because of the immense role they play in economic development of the society.
Earlier, the state Commissioner of Commerce and Industry, Danburan Abubakar Nuhu, stated that beneficiaries were engaged in a sensitisation workshop with a view to imparting basic conditions for accessing and utilising the loan.
A Kano-based industrialist and Dan Adala of Kano, Alhaji Ishaku Umar Tofa, commended BoI for collaborating with the government of Kano State to improve the living standard of Kano people.
