The Bank of Industry Limited (BOI) is Nigeria’s oldest, largest and most successful development financing institution. It was reconstructed in 2001 out of the Nigerian Industrial Development Bank (NIDB) Limited, which was incorporated in 1964. The bank took off in 1964 with an authorized share capital of 2 million (GBP).

Graduate Entrepreneurship Fund (GEF) Call for Entries
The Graduate Entrepreneurship Fund (GEF) is a special N2 billion empowerment programme for serving members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) which was launched on October 5, 2015. This novel schemes which is a joint initiative of the Bank of Industry (BOI) and the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), has the following objectives:

Encourage graduates of tertiary institutions currently undergoing the compulsory one-year NYSC programme, to venture into business and become employers of labour rather than job seekers.
Address the entrepreneurship capacity gap o the NYSC members who are expected to produce bankable business plans after the three-day capacity building programme.
Deepen financial inclusion by de-risking the NYSC members and making them eligible for concessional loans ranging between N500,000 and N2 million to be provided by BOI
Ensure sustainability of the businesses of the eventual loan beneficiaries through effective monitoring by the NYSC Directorate and BOI.

The GEF Programme comprises the following:

Online Business Plan Competition to select the most promising real sector business ideas, Selection/screening of participants shall be done via the GEF online application portal.
Three days intensive entrepreneurship capacity building programme
Loan amount of up to N2 million to be provided to each successful participant with bankable business plans within BOI’s 35 SME clusters (list at BOI’s website: www.boi.ng) at an interest rate of 9% per annum, with tenors ranging from 3-5 years inclusive of 6 – 12 months moratorium period.

The capacity building programme is scheduled to hold simultaneously at the following venues:

Geo-Political Zone/State – NYSC Camp Location

South-South
Former Martins TIC,
Issele-Uku,
Aniocha North L.G.A,
Delta State.

South-East
Umunna,
Bende L.G.A,
Abia State.

South-West
Aisu College Hospital Road,
Ede,
Osun State.

North-East
Government College,
Jalingo,
Taraba State.

North-Central
Mangu,
Plateau State.

North-West
Main Road,
Katsina,
Katsina State.

Lagos
Iyana Ipaja,
Agege,
Lagos State.

NOTE: The Entrepreneurship Capacity Building Programme will take place at the above stated centres between 18th – 20th November, 2015. Interested serving NYSC members are hereby requested to apply online immediately

Application Closing Date
3rd November, 2015.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should check the link to apply: http://www.boi.ng/gef/