Scramble for N4b Women Loan begins

By Abolaji Adebayo and Sunday Ogundiran

No fewer than 500 business women in Oshodi-Isolo have their eyes on the N4billion fund provided by the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) in partnership with Access Bank to expand their businesses.

LSETF Oshodi-Isolo Liaison Officer, Mr. Femi Oguntibeju  confirmed to Echonews that as soon as the programme was launched, women have been collecting the forms and filling them in compliance with the conditions.

Similarly, the Secretary to Isolo Local Council Development Area, Hon.Kolawole Olojede confirmed to Echonews that the LCDA gave the LSETF an office in Isolo to facilitate their operations and that all the 150 forms sent to the LCDA have been collected by women applicants as at Friday.

Both Oshodi-Isolo LGA, where LSETF maintains its local government office and Ejigbo LCDA also gave reports of a rush for the forms by the women.

To meet the conditions, women entrepreneurs must reside in the local government or LCDA and show proof by presenting the card issued by the Lagos State Residents Registration Agency,LASRA.

She must also have a Bank Verification Number (BVN), one year tax clearance certificate and statement of account.

Meanwhile, the member of Lagos House of Assembly representing Oshodi-Isolo constituency II, Hon. Jude Chukwuemeka Idimog announced a donation of N500.000.00 for the women in the constituency to get the necessary documents required to access the fund.

The N4billion special intervention fund set aside for the initiative was contributed equally by the LSETF and Access Bank to provide access to affordable finance for female-owned businesses in Lagos State.

Women-owned businesses or enterprises with at least 50 per cent women ownership and have been in business for one to five years are eligible to apply for up to N5mllion loan from the programme.

To make it easier for women to access the loans, the LSET launched it at the Isolo Local Council Development Area.

With the launching of the scheme at the grassroots, about 500 women entrepreneurs in Oshodi-Isolo would get loan as small as N250,000 and maximum of N5million each to boost their businesses depending on the size of the business.

This would be the second wave of loans push by the LSETF. the first,launched in 2017 gave loans up to N5 million payable within three years.

Oguntibeju confirmed that  that hundreds of SMEs in Oshodi-Isolo who got the loans are still servicing while some others have paid back with the interest.

According to him, the applicants must fulfill the requirements to be able to access the loan as they could now get their forms from the local council for the processing of the loan instead of going to the organisation’s headquarters at Alausa, Ikeja.

Earlier during the launch of the LSETF W-Initiative at the Blue Roof, LTV 8, Agidingbi, Ikeja, the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu expressed the commitment of his administration to tackle unemployment in the state by creating opportunities for small businesses and ensuring that women are in alignment with the THEMES objectives of the administration.

According to the Governor, “There is no argument that climes, where young people and women are at the centre of economic planning, have emerged prosperous, progressive and remain the model of development. In Lagos State, the Government’s strategy is to optimise and sustainably grow our local economy, projected to be the fifth-largest economy in Africa, by creating access to funds for our women entrepreneurs. We are confident that it is an intervention that would create wealth for small businesses and consequently put our young and productive youth to work.”

The LSETF Board of Trustees Chairman, Mrs. Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru, said: “The LSETF W-Initiative which has been taking to the local governments aligns with the fund’s strategic efforts to actualise the commitment of the State Government of ensuring that at least 50% of the beneficiaries of LSETF programmes are women.”

The BoT Chairman revealed that the Fund is incrementally achieving its objective through its three core programmes, noting that women represent a total of 5,263 or 50% of the total number of loan beneficiaries and account for 43.54% of the Fund’s total loan portfolio with (approximately N3.07billion) so far.

“Also, over 74% of the beneficiaries in our Micro-Enterprise Start-Up Programme are women. Furthermore, 49% of the total 4,909 people trained through our Employability Programme are women.

“That is not all. We have supported 16 female-led start-ups with workspace vouchers as part of the Fund’s Lagos Innovates programme which seeks to make Lagos State the tech-hub of Africa,” she added.

According to her, the new beneficiaries would join 10,753 other entrepreneurs who have successfully been credited with N7.5 billion in the last 4 years.

The loan which carries 10% annual rate ranges from a minimum of N250, 000 to N5million depending on the size of the business.

For Micro Enterprise Start-ups, the available loan is between N50,000 and N250,000 while Micro Enterprise business owners can access loan between N50,000 and N500,000. Small and medium scale businesses have between N501, 000 and N5million.

Also commenting on the scheme, the Chairman of Isolo LCDA, Hon. Shamsudeen Olaleye, who was elated about the unique opportunity for the women in the local council area, said it would improve their lives by engaging in small and medium scale business enterprises.

“We are indeed grateful to Gov. Sanwo-Olu and Access Bank for providing this unique opportunity for our women to improve their lives and banish poverty in council areas.

“With this opportunity, our women can start their own businesses. For those who already have, the loan would enable them to expand, thereby creating more employment opportunities for others,” he stated.