The Micro Enterprise Directorate of Bank of Industry (BOI) provides low-interest lending solutions to micro-enterprises in the informal, semi-formal and formal sectors through the use of intermediary channels to ensure last-mile delivery, reach and programme sustainability.
How BOI Supports Micro Businesses
1. They are committed to achieving their mandate to deepen BOI’s engagement with the Micro Enterprise sector through innovative financial and non-financial products and services.
2. They have a strong network of strategic partnerships to deliver financial services to their target clients. In recent times they have also begun to deepen their use of technology to drive financial inclusion.
3. Through the activities of their directorates, they are able to increase the positive impact of their business operations by providing sustainable finance for development-focused sectors of the economy thereby contributing to the achievement of the sustainable development goals around ending poverty and hunger, driving quality education & gender equality, creating decent work and economic growth, and transforming industry, innovation and infrastructure.
Let’s now examine the three main ways through which the Bank of Industry makes available it’s low interest Loans to micro Businesses
3 ways through which BOI makes available it’s low interest Loans to micro Businesses are:
1.Cluster Financing
Cluster Financing identifies and evaluates value chains strategic to the growth of the Nigerian economy.
Main Features Of BOI Cluster Financing
1. Finances business along various value chains to guarantee the seamless flow of activities across the various chains.
2. Financing products take into consideration the roles of the various stakeholders with a view to de-bottlenecking the access to finance challenges experienced along the value chains.
3. The lending solutions are designed to reach the ultimate beneficiaries, through intermediaries, or an anchor market to guarantee product offtake.
Examples Of BOI Cluster Financing Program
Cluster financing programmes include the smallholder farmer cluster financing programme and the Agric Value Chain delivered through Babban Gona Farmer Services.
2. The Fintech Digital Lending
This product aims to alleviate the challenges experienced by MSMEs regarding access to financial services nationwide through the provision of digital loans.
Main features Of BOI Fintech Digital Lending
1.Through this product, the Bank leverages intermediaries such as FINTECH aggregators to provide indirect lending within the shortest time to Nigerian micro and very small businesses.
2. This product aims to further encourage the Bank’s mandate to promote industrialization in Nigeria by providing quick and seamless financing to MSMEs who account for 59% of Nigeria’s GDP, and are the significant drivers of job creation in the country.
Example Of BOI Fintech Digital Lending
One such product is Self Reliance Economic Advancement Programme (SEAP).SEAP is a non-bank MFI that provides microfinance services such as loans to microenterprises and micro-credit schemes. SEAP is dedicated primarily to the economic empowerment of the underprivileged, capacity building and improvement of the socio-economic condition of the poor. SEAP provides services such as loans, SEAP Health Foundation, Health Insurance Scheme Scholarship Scheme, Social Responsibility and Development, and Disaster Support Scheme.
3. MSME Distributorship Financing
The Distributor Financing Product aims to provide the much-needed working capital financing to micro-businesses for the purchase and supply of Made-in-Nigeria products and services.
Main features Of MSME Distributorship Financing
1. It is given through intermediary companies along the product value chain.
2 BOI intervenes by bridging the funding gap through working capital loans to eligible intermediary companies that distribute locally produced goods and services to micro-entrepreneurs.
3. Through this product, BOI promotes the growth of local product manufacturers as well as micro-enterprise distributors. In recent times
Example Of BOI MSME Distributorship Financing Platform
Tradedepot Limited facilitated this product for the bank.Tradedepot Limited is a technology-enabled company providing aggregation for manufacturers and small & micro businesses in the retail distribution space. This facility is a working capital facility for the supply of made-in-Nigeria products to over 36,000 micro retailers managed through TradeDepot’s Shop Top-up Technology Platform
For more details on how to contact BOi for further information read our post on the subject