Soft loan scheme for overseas studies debuts in Lagos

Nigerian students willing to school overseas but worried about funding can now heave a sigh of relief as a travel loan scheme has opened in Lagos.
 
The scheme, courtesy of Zedvance Limited, avails easy financial support within 24 hours of application to aspiring students. The loan covers applicant’s travel, tuition and stay at a university of choice abroad.
  
Chief Operating Officer of Zedvance, Kayode Oluwagbuyi, at Zedvance Education Conference 2015 and product launch in Lagos, said that the company was incorporated in 2014 to give financial support to the ambition of low and middle income earners in the country, including students that may want to take advantage of overseas education.
  
Oluwagbuyi said that Zedvance avails up to N2m payable within a year, with a guarantor and interest rate in single digit, depending on the customer’s capacity and credit history.
  
“The most important for us, which also determines our risk-based pricing is the character of the person, and ability to meet obligations as at when due,” he said.
  
The COO added that overseas education has become more fashionable for countries that really want to develop. Countries like China, for instance, promote overseas education among their people “so that they can come back to the country with foreign knowledge for local use. One of the ways to invest in knowledge is by sending your own people out there to learn,” Oluwagbuyi said.