First City Monument Bank has said it is providing interest free loans of up to N5m to entrepreneurs as part of its efforts to support Small and Medium Scale Enterprises.
It said in a statement by the Head of the SheVentures Team, Ms Yetunde Moito, titled ‘FCMB upscales support to SMEs with N5m interest free loan facility’ that the support, under the bank’s SheVentures initiative, was designed for female-owned businesses for a period of three months.
The bank said that in 2020, several female entrepreneurs across Nigeria and operating in various sectors, received loans ranging from N500,000 to N5m from the lender, at zero interest rate, to grow their businesses.
Thousands of others also benefitted from free training, mentoring and other empowerment programmes organised as part of the broad objectives of the bank’s SheVentures proposition despite the ongoing challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, it stated.
The bank explained that the extension of the zero interest rate loan facility was another demonstration of its commitment to consistently empower and propel SMEs to greater heights in a manner that would boost their productivity and profitability for the overall benefit of the nation.
She added that under the latest support, which was starting from Abuja and Northern region, qualified customers of the bank had the opportunity to access between N500,000 and N5m within the three months tenor.
Those in the South-South, South-West and Lagos regions would also benefit from the support later in the year, she said.
She said the free interest loan was available for female-owned SMEs operating in manufacturing, trading in locally produced items, solar energy, food processing, oil and gas, hospitality, education, healthcare, agribusiness, and fashion/garment making sectors.
(Punch)