TRANSFORMATION! President Jonathan To Flag Off N220bn MSME Devt Fund Disbursement President Goodluck Jonathan will next week flagoff the disbursement of the N220 billion Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF) at the 8th MSME Finance Conference holding in Abuja. The two day conference which brings together banks and finance companies in the country will take place at Sheraton Hotels and Towers Abuja next week, August 18-19, 2014. Also, the president who is expected to declare the conference open, would award prizes to MSMEs, deposit money banks and state governments who distinguished themselves in entrepreneurship development in 2013. The N220 billion MSMEDF was launched at the 7th edition of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sponsored conference in Abuja last year by the former governor of the apex bank, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. The MSMEDF which would be disbursed at an interest rate of nine per cent to micro finance banks (MFBs), banks and finance companies which would in turn disburse same to the beneficiaries, was launched as a means of strengthening the link between entrepreneurship and access to financial services. Women entrepreneurs would be the major beneficiaries of the fund as 60 per cent of the fund has been dedicated to them as part of the women empowerment drive of the CBN. Participants expected at the conference include micro, small and medium entrepreneurs, banks, MFIs, MFBs, deposit money banks, state governors, federal ministers, heads of government agencies and departments, international development agencies and captains of industries.
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 08:15:44 +0000