Access Bank PLC has partnered with the Office of the Vice-President to provide N30 billion to support four million Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, women and youth businesses in Nigeria.
The Group Managing Director of the bank, Roosevelt Ogbonna, made this known in an interview with newsmen.
He spoke after a meeting with the Vice-President, Kashim Shettima, at the Presidential Villa, on Friday in Abuja.
Ogbonna, who explained that the money would be provided to the MSMEs at discounted rates, said the bank had been supporting MSMEs and women over the last 16 years to 17 years.
He said that the vice-president had directed the bank to give priority to women, saying: โShettima has a bias for women as we do.
โIt was a very interesting meeting with the Vice-President, Kashim Shettima.
โWe spoke about how we can begin to impact the lives of women and youths in Nigeria as well as how we can support the MSMEs.
โWe spoke on a broad range of issues.
โWe want to change lives through the Office of the Vice President of small businesses of women and youths.
โWe do agree that about 66 per cent of MSMEs in Nigeria are owned by women and youths.
โAnd I think one of the challenges that they face is access to finance.
โWorking with the Office of the Vice President, we agreed today that Access Bank will provide about N30 billion towards supporting MSMEs and youths.โ
Ogbonna said that the bank had designed four different programmes to benefit no fewer than four million MSMEs in the country
He added: โThis is not just about lending.
โWe are building capacity by training the youths.
โWe are ensuring that we can empower them through financing.
โWe are also ensuring that we can find a new market for thisMSMEs so that any product or service they come up with they can find an outlet for it.โ
Ogbonna also revealed that the bank would organise training programmes that would take them beyond the shores of Nigeria.
He added: โSo that they can be better when they return.
โFinancing we expect that about 700,000 to a million people will be impacted, but overall the programme will impact about four million MSMEs, youths and women.โ
Ogbonna thanked the vice president for granting them the opportunity to partner with the Federal Government.
He said: โWe are excited to be part of that process and we thank the Office of the Vice President for giving us this opportunity to be a partner to his office.
He said: โIt will start from today.
โWe just have to look for the deserving MSMEs.
โAs we all know Access Bank has been a bank that has supported SMEs and women for the last almost 16 to 17 years.
โAll we are doing with this partnership is to give us significant impetus to do more.
โThe vice president has charged us to do less talking.
โWe are now going to be on the streets to try and ensure that we get this off the ground immediately.โ
On his part, Temitola Adekunle-Johnson, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Job Creation and MSMEs, Office of the Vice-President, reiterated the readiness of the Federal Government to partner with the private sector to support SMEs.
Adekunle-Johnson said: โPresident Bola Tinubu has told the entire world that Nigeria is ready and truly we are ready.
โOur doors are open for business and partnership.
โAnd you cannot thrive in this economy without the private sector and nor can the private sector thrive alone without the public sector.
โSo for us, it is a partnership that has come at the right time.
โThey have pledged to commit their own N30 billion for the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises at a discounted rate of between 15 to 17 per cent.
โThis is a viable opportunity for MSMEs and it is not a programme that we will need to have another conference or a meeting for. It starts now.โ
