James Sowole in Akure
No fewer than 5,000 women in Ondo State have benefitted from the empowerment programme of the Bank of Industry (BoI) with the granting of loans to start or boost their businesses.
The BoI Executive Director, Mrs Toyin Adeniji, who disclosed this to newsmen in Akure, the Ondo State capital, said the programme was designed to empower women entrepreneurs to achieve sustainable economic growth in the country.
Adeniji, who spoke during the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Clinic held in Akure, said 4,000 women had benefitted before the commencement of the clinic where relevant stakeholders gathered to enlighten business men and women on how they can boost their trade.
According to Adeniji, no fewer than 1,000 beneficiaries would receive alert through their individual telephones during the programme organised by the federal government in the state.
Adeniji explained that the need to encourage more women entrepreneurs was to create wealth and job opportunities for the nation’s teeming unemployed women and youths.
She disclosed that BoI partnered with the federal government in order to support and finance women all across the country in their various stages of business activities.
The BoI director noted that Nigerian women accounted for a greater percentage of the total labour force in the country and stressed the need to encourage more women to be involved in the economic development of the country.
She said the bank would always be ready to partner with the Micro-Finance, Small and Medium Enterprise Agency in the state to expand the reach of the loan to cover more beneficiaries.
She said the bank would be ready to empower and finance more women to boost small and medium scale business
Adeniji noted that the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme was also a government initiative being executed by BoI and has been very successful with the granting of micro credit loans to the beneficiaries all over Nigeria.
The BoI director said women only need to have bank accounts and BVN to benefit from the empowerment loan.
