Female MSMEs dominant beneficiaries among 4m in the sector
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Four million Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) have benefitted from the N150 billion grant given by the federal government through a scheme administered by Bank of Industry (BOI) Aid for Productivity.
About 60 per cent of the beneficiaries are women, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo who spoke at the launch of a report by Bank of Industry (BOI) Aid for Productivity.
The report chronicled the development, impact, and future of the BOI Growth Platform, the human and technology infrastructure driving multiple large-scale intervention programmes for MSMEs.
Osinbajo said the report showed progress in solving the challenges of MSMEs, and the success of the BOI Growth Platform is the story of “the Nigerian can-do spirit and the entrepreneurial DNA we carry.”
He added: “This is an example of what we can achieve when we unleash the best of our people – especially our young – on the toughest of our challenges, and give them the free-hand to deliver results.
“This demographic was far too important to ignore.
“We had to start solving for them, especially having been left far behind historically, a reason that led to the implementation of intervention schemes through the BOI’s Growth Platform for MSMEs.
“What might also not be obvious is the sheer scale of impact that has been achieved with these programmes, as over four million MSMEs have been direct beneficiaries of the over N150 billion deployed in the past five years.”
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MSMEs driven by youths and women
Osinbajo said 57 per cent of MSMEs are owned by Nigerians below 35 years of age, and nearly 60 per cent of the beneficiaries are women. The team of professionals behind this work is largely young, with an average age of 28, he stressed.
He praised the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for providing early support to BOI to build the operation to the present large scale, per Nairametrics.
BOI Growth Platform interventions include:
- Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) loans (MarketMoni, FarmerMoni, and TraderMoni) – Africa’s largest fully-digitised micro-credit scheme.
- MSME Survival Fund under the Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP)
- North East Rehabilitation Fund
- World Bank’s $750 million NG-CARES programme
- Interventions backed by states.
The government announced last November it had disbursed N56.8 billion to 835,161 beneficiaries under the MSME Survival Fund scheme.