Below are Top 7 funds that are available for Nigerian SMEs this year. The general criterion for accessing these funds is the capacity to present a bankable and viable business plan. The entrepreneur should be clear on where he wants to be in the near future, and must also be able to describe the market for his or her products. These are the seven Funds:

#1. BoI Funds

If there is anywhere Nigerian entrepreneurs can get cheap or single-digit funds (often at nine percent lending rate), it’s from the Bank of Industry (BoI).

This development finance institution (DFI) has been rated by many local and international agencies as one of the best managed banks in the world.

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The BoI has a number of funds that entrepreneurs of all levels can access. First is the Graduate Entrepreneurship Fund (GEF), which is meant for serving members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). Candidates are allowed to submit their business ideas, which are then reviewed by a team of experts. The NYSC members whose ideas are marketable and bankable are then selected, trained for four weeks and then given between N500,000 and N2 million.

There are also the Cottage Agro Processing (CAP) Fund for small and medium agro processors; Nolly Fund for players in the Nollywood industry, as well as Fashion Fund for designers and other players in the fashion value chain.

In fact, the bank has other matching and managed funds, including a fund for the automotive industry. Through 122 business development experts, entrepreneurs can access funds easily. It is also easy to access some of the bank’s products through its website.

The bank has a N5 billion fund from Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote to finance SMEs at a single digit rate.

“We want to continue to create opportunities for Nigerian entrepreneurs and support the industrialization efforts of the government,” said Waheed Olagunju, acting CEO and MD of BoI, at a forum in Lagos in 2016.

#2. Tony Elumelu Fund

Tony Elumelu Foundation has earmarked $100 million for 10,000 African entrepreneurs, broken into tranches of $10 million for 1,000 entrepreneurs every year for ten years. This will continue to be available for another seven to eight years. If you are in agriculture, fashion and design, light manufacturing, ICT, and solid minerals, among others, then apply for the on-going Tony Elumemu Fund. You may be lucky to be one of 1,000 entrepreneurs to be shortlisted.

#3. GroFin Fund

GroFin, a development financier, has committed over $500 million to funding Nigerian micro, small and medium businesses (MSMEs) across the country.

The firm has five different types of funds: the Aspire Nigeria Fund, the Growth Africa Fund, the Small Growing Business Fund, the Aspire Small Business Fund and the Aspire Growth Fund.

The Aspire Nigeria Fund, the Growth Africa Fund and the Small Growing Business Fund cater for all parts of Nigeria except the Niger Delta.

The Aspire Small Business Fund provides a minimum of $100,000 and a maximum of $1.5 million to SMEs in Nigeria.

The Aspire Small Business Fund and the Aspire Growth Fund cater for the Niger Delta.

The Aspire Small Business Fund provides between $10,000 and $100,000 to small business owners in the oil-rich region, while the Aspire Growth Fund frees between $100,000 and $3 million to businesses to stimulate growth in the area. GroFin provides its funds mostly for a maximum of six years.

Is the Graduate
Entrepreneurship Fund (GEF) meant for only serving
members of the National
Youth Service Corps? What about those that are through with service and do not already have existing business?

Bang DE DE deng!!!

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