Female enterprises get loan from MSME Development Fund
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Solo females and female enterprises received N203.31 billion loans from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) by January as part of disbursement from the Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF).
CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele made the disclosure at a webinar hosted by Deputy Governor (Financial System Stability Directorate) Aishah Ahmad.
He reiterated that females have benefitted hugely from CBN intervention programmes such as the Agribusiness Small and Medium Enterprise Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS) and the COVID-19 Targeted Credit Facility (TCF).
He said out of N134.67 billion disbursed to 37,273 AGSMEIS as of January, 33 per cent (N44.1 billion) went to 12,511 female beneficiaries; and out of N349.51 billion disbursed to 712,442 under TCF, 45 per cent (N159.21 billion) went to 330,128 female beneficiaries.
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MSMEDF allocation formula
According to reporting by The Nation, Emefiele said
- The MSME Development Fund (MSMEDF) allocates at least 60 per cent of the fund to women and women-owned enterprises.
- Women so far are 60.3 per cent of the of 229,579 beneficiaries.
- Out of the 211,306 financial statements currently registered in the collateral registry, 92,091 or 43.6 per cent are female borrowers.
- Women are disproportionately affected by both the pandemic and the effects of climate change.
The CBN used “the 2022 IWD as an opportunity to celebrate women who are in the frontline of these twin crisis.
“[We are] taking strategic actions in areas such as recruitment, retention, succession planning, and return-to-office work arrangements in order to address these gender gaps.”
He disclosed that the CBN has surpassed affirmative action with 32 per cent of the total workforce being female.
“It is only by unleashing the full potential of women to participate fully in the economy that we can strengthen growth, eliminate poverty, create jobs and respond effectively to the mounting global challenges, from the pandemic to climate change.”
The CBN has also issued a policy that requires a minimum 30 per cent of female representation on bank boards and 40 per cent in top management, Emefiele added.
“This is similar to the National Financial Inclusion Strategy recommending increasing female staff of microfinance banks to 30 per cent.