Nigeria’s biggest lender in the SME space, Access Bank Plc is collaborating with the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development to roll out the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme GEEP 2.0 in all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
Successful beneficiaries of GEEP 2.0 shall receive congratulatory and sensitization text messages in the coming days informing them of their qualification and re-emphasis that the empowerment program is a loan and not a grant.
“All qualified beneficiaries will soon receive their disbursement alerts after being fully enumerated. We wish to remind all qualified beneficiaries that this is a loan payable within 9months without interest.
The Ministry is planning a rollout of the program nationwide, after which an enumeration exercise to capture beneficiaries’ biodata, will take place.
According to Ayodele Olojede, Group Head, Emerging Businesses, Access Bank Plc, “The bank remains committed to the growth and development of the micro, small and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs) as we understand their contribution to the economy in terms of GDP and Employment. Our partnership with the Federal government to roll out the Government Enterprise and Empowerment business Programme GEEP 2.0 in all the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory is part of our commitment to address the primary factor small business owners face.
In rolling out the Government Enterprise and Empowerment business Programme GEEP 2.0 loans, Special accounts will be opened for all beneficiaries for the disbursement of the loan and all beneficiaries are expected to complete physical enumeration at their various local government and an account opening form of Access Bank prior to disbursement.
The GEEP 2.0 is a loan scheme designed by the Federal Government to provide financial inclusion and give credit access to poor and vulnerable individuals, including Persons With Disability and persons at the bottom of the economic pyramid who are engaged in small scale commercial activities under its three flagship schemes: MarketMoni, TraderMoni and FarmerMoni.
Tradermoni targets uplifting under-privileged and marginalized youths aged between 18-40 years in Nigeria by providing them with loans of N50,000 while MarketMoni targets underprivileged and marginalized women aged between 18-55 years like Widows, divorcees amongst other vulnerable groups. They get non-interest loans of N50,000 payable within 6-9 months.
FarmerMoni is for Nigerian farmers aged between 18-55 years in rural areas that operate in the agricultural space. They are provided with loans of up to N300,000 for gainful agricultural production and value addition activities. This scheme has 12 months including 3 months moratorium and 9 months repayment period.
Access Bank is recognized as one of the most innovative financial institutions in Africa. With over 40 million customers and 600 branches nationwide, it offers a range of products and services tailored to suit the needs and lifestyle of its customers across multiple segments. The Bank offers various SMEs digitalised solutions to cater for the vast majority of MSMEs. Some of these innovations include online account opening platform for businesses, digital lending platform, Digital payment solution platform (Swiftpay), Access to market (Discounted Website), and our capacity-building programmes.