With over N60 billion in financial intermediation from January till date to the real sector, the Bank of Industry (BoI) has restated commitment towards supporting industrial growth in the country.

Indeed, the development financial institution noted that its strategic plan is to ensure that impacts are created through job and wealth creation in the course of support for local manufacturers.

Managing Director, BoI, Rasheed Olaoluwa while speaking at the Bank’s Impact Awards Night in Lagos explained that the bank is dedicating attention to specific sectors of the economy in order to ensure that the desired impact of sustainable development is achieved in the real sector.
Olaoluwa noted that the bank had staked N4.7 billion on small enterprise within the period under review, adding that the bank’s rating among top seven performing development finance institutions under the Association of African Development Finance Institutions’ (AADFI), Prudential Standards, Guidelines and Rating System (PSGRS) reaffirms the bank’s commitment towards industrializing the nation’s real sector.

Meanwhile, the Bank has sealed a pact with the Kaduna State government on the Kaduna Start Up Entrepreneurship Program (KADSTEP) conceived to accelerate entrepreneurship development in the state.
He said: “Today, we are all witnessing a bold step by these three partners, Kaduna State Government, Bank of Industry Limited and Kaduna Business School as we execute the MOU guiding the operations of the KADSTEP.

“The Kaduna Start up Entrepreneurship Program (KADSTEP) is a sustainable job creation initiative designed with entrepreneurship as the common denominator. The program is designed to run for 4 years in the first instance and the overreaching goal is the creation of a minimum of 20,000 jobs in the intervention period through the registration and expansion of the capacities of about 3,500-4,500 businesses operating across the 23 local government in the state. The theme of the programme is self-employment through entrepreneurship and creativity.

To make this initiative successful, BoI will make available to KDSG and KBS its requirements, checklists, procedures and conditions for accessing of loans; provide a system of online tracking of loan applications by the participants and KBS; ensure loan applications submitted to BOI under KADSTEP are quickly reviewed in line with BOI’s policies and decisions communicated to the applicants in good time; and monitor and supervise loan beneficiaries”.