Rotary Club Empowers MSMEs With N80m

The Rotary Club, District 9110 of the Lagos District is supporting Micro Small and Medium Entrepreneurs, MSMEs with interest-free loans to expand and grow their businesses.

The Loan package of N2 million was given to 40 MSMEs operating within Lagos and Ogun States, respectively.

This was announced during the Rotary District 9110 meetings for the first disbursement of mega micro-credit scheme to beneficiaries in Lagos, Tuesday.

The District Governor, Bola Oyebade said that this was the maiden edition of the mega micro-credit scheme designed to uplift MSMEs in Nigeria, in line with the values of the Rotary Club to touch the lives of people irrespective of where they are in the country.

Oyebade explained that the beneficiaries are expected to repay the loan in five months, interest-free, adding that it has nothing to do with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This is not a COVID-19 palliative as it were; it is a micro credit of Rotary District 9110 Nigeria, and it is something we had all planned even before COVID-19 as part of our plans for this Rotary year, and COVID-19 only came into Nigeria, I think about March. This is something that has been in plan ever before March this year,” Oyebade said.

He also explained that the 27 beneficiaries that got the loans were part of the 40 already short-listed by the District for the micro-credit scheme.

“The 27 beneficiaries are what we have for now; they are supposed to be 40 people and scale up to more than 100 people, which is our plan. And that N2 million will go for about 100 people, because what we intend to do is to continue to recycle the N2 million which is the base amount we have.”

He noted that the moratorium for the loan payment, will be “for five months, and by the end of five months they will have returned all the money. It is absolutely interest free.”