Despite the growing economic recession, caused by downward trend in global oil prices, the Bank of Industry, BOI, has been able to withstand the test of time. Beyond its impressive financial growth, it has also made considerable strides in different areas, especially in the micro, small and medium enterprises, MSME, sector of the nation’s economy.

For instance, the bank’s interventions and supports in the emerging sectors of the economy, led to the disbursement of N83.5 billion to over 776 enterprises, which no doubt, generated over 400,000 direct and indirect jobs in the country.

This is, as the bank has also braced-up to its increasing responsibilities, especially in the implementation of the Nigerian Industrial Revolution Plan, NIPR, as well as the National Enterprise Development Programme, NEDEP. Confirming this feat recently in Lagos state, the Acting Managing Director and Chief Executive of the Bank, Mr Waheed Olagunju said the most striking achievement in its credit operations, was the disbursement of loans, amounting to N5.7 billion to the MSMEs.



According to him, this represented 205 percent increase over the average annual run rate of N1.7 billion to MSMEs in previous years. He however noted that the increase in the disbursement of loans to the MSMEs was due to the establishment of separate directorate for small and medium enterprises as well as other steps taken to create an efficient ecosystem for the SMEs in the country.

This is in addition to other sector-specific products created by the bank like the N5 billion cottage agro processing fund for agro-allied based SMEs. The products, which target over 1, 000 cottage mills across the country, has about 20-30 mills per state, including the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja. More to this, was the BOI Nollyfund, a collateral- free fund of N1 billion for the entertainment industry practitioners, which targets the film production chain.

Also, the N1 billion fashion fund launched by the bank was aimed at supporting the fashion value chain, including but not limited to garments, women shoes, handbags and jewellery accessories. However, the bank in its bid to enhance its lending capacity, obtained a $100 million line of credit from the African Development Bank, AfDB, to specifically fund export-based projects, which is in line with the AfDB’s economic initiatives. Olagunju also noted that a N10 billion youth entrepreneurship support programme was also launched by the bank to equip young people with the skills and knowledge to be selfemployed as well as managing their own businesses.

The beneficiaries of these initiatives, he said, would be trained under the bank’s entrepreneurship capacity building programme while providing them with fund to start up while expanding existing businesses based on concessional lending terms and conditions.

Source : http://ijebuloaded.com/news-bois-intervention-creates-400000-jobs/