By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A senior official of the Bank of Industry (BoI) has disclosed that about N36.82 billion has been disbursed as loans between January and September to business owners in the country under its Large Enterprise Directorate.
Speaking at the Lagos International Trade Fair, BoI’s Head of SME Group, Mr Adetokunbo Akinsola, stated that this was done to grow businesses in the country.
Mr Akinsola, represented by Mr Obaro Osa, said at the bank’s SME Forum that, “BoI is positioned to deepen finance to small and large enterprises for the expansion of productivity and job creation in the industrial sector.”
He further said, “Under the large enterprise directorate, Food Processing Group and Agro-Processing Group, (BOI) disbursed N13.5 billion and N3.099 billion loans respectively to food and agro-based businesses.
“N2.9 billion loan was disbursed by the Solid Mineral Group while Gas and Petrochemical Group disbursed N5.03 billion in the said period.”
Mr Akinsola noted that the Gender and Creative Industry Group through its segment based products namely; Fashion Fund and Nolly fund, disbursed N1.8 billion and N665 million.
He said, “N10 billion was disbursed to businesses under the Engineering and Technology group while N497 billion was disbursed under CBN’s Intervention funds, through commercial banks to 600 beneficiaries.”
According to him, BoI’s strategic focus is to drive the financial inclusion of the unbanked population of artisans and market women toward building an inclusive economy.
Earlier, Mrs Nike Akande, President, LCCI, advised SMEs to be innovative through introduction of new products and services, deployment of technology and participation at trade fairs.
She also proposed exploring new market trends and investigating new sources of raw materials that do not require foreign exchange.
Dipo Olowookere 
Adedapo Adesanya
Its nice to hear this news. We need more of this initiative from the government. Thumps up!