3,000 Kwara SMEs get post-COVID-19 relief grants

About 3,000 Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (SMEs) will benefit from the first batch of operational cost grants under the Kwara COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (CARES) programme.

The programme, a World Bank initiative to be underwritten by the Kwara State government, is designed to cushion the effect of the waning Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), improve the state of Micro, Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (MSMEs) to boost the local economy and boost employment in Kwara State.

According to Operational Grant Team Lead, Jaiye Jegede, 4,225 successful applicants underwent the vetting process for Lisbursement-Linked Indicator (DLI) 3.2. “At the end of the vetting process, over 3,000 successful applicants are currently being contacted for enumeration by agents from the Bank of Industry (BoI),” Jegede stated, yesterday.

He announced that over 20,000 applicants from the 16 local councils of Kwara had applied through a hybrid of online and offline registration processes at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Technology and the Kwara State Social Investment Programme office.

“Following the registration, which was open to all small business owners in the state, over 4,000 successful applicants for the operational cost grants (also known as DLI 3.2) were contacted by BoI, who are the implementing partners, to fill a vetting form requesting further information on their businesses,” he added.