SMEDAN Sets To Give N5m Loan To SMEs – [See Application Portal Opening Date]

The sum of N1.2 million to N5million has been reportedly set aside by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria, SMEDAN, to give out as a loan to small scale business owner.

SMEDAN in a statement by its Director-General and Chief Executive Officer, Dikko Radda, noted that it would open its portal to citizens starting from Tuesday, December 22, to fill in their details for the loan.

According to the statement made available to newsmen through the Corporate Affairs Unit of the Agency, the loans would be funded from the SMEDAN-BOA Matching Fund Programme for small businesses.

Mr Radda said the intervention programme is targetted at delivering funds on ‘loan’ to small business owners to support their output and create more jobs and competitions. He added that the disbursing entity, under the programme, shall be the Bank of Agriculture, BOA.

“Target beneficiaries for this programme shall be labour-intensive micro or small enterprises (MSEs), operating in the real sector. These shall ideally be innovative value-added products that are establishing a footprint in the Nigerian market, and require additional funds to increase output,” the Director-General noted.

He urged qualified small business owners within the axis of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Kaduna and Oyo States to take advantage of the programme. Mr Radda, however, noted that prospective beneficiaries must be registered with SMEDAN, adding that they would get the loans on business-friendly terms, including waiver of collaterals.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives on Tuesday called for the immediate suspension of the Special Works Scheme of the Federal Government.

Naija News understands that the recruitment process of 774,000 workers for the scheme for a while has seen the National Assembly and the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment clash.