In a bid to provide support for Medium and Small-Scale businesses (MSMEs) in Nigeria, Sterling Bank has set aside a sum of N50 billion in loans to fund a pool of businesses in need of financial assistance.
This was made public by the Group Head, Retail Assets and Liability, Sterling Bank, Benedicta Sadoh in a media briefing.
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Why this matters: MSMEs have a lot of challenges to contend with, particularly in the area of access to finance, hence the reason Sterling Bank chose to introduce this business support facility to impact lives and develop solutions.
Eligible businesses: According to Sadoh, the small businesses eligible for this scheme are those businesses that generate cash flow on a daily basis and pay rental on a monthly basis. Sadoh also noted that the project went through a lot of surveys and research before being birthed.
Interest rates: Sadoh said the interest rate for the scheme is flexible as she noted that SMEs could access N5 million to N20 million worth of loans for non-collateral and collateral loans respectively. She also stated that the facility would be disbursed in 48 hours. She stressed that the interest rate would be determined via the use of a scorecard.
“The scheme does not have a fixed interest rate because it is based on a digital scorecard which is a scoring process where information about the prospective customer is used to determine the applicable interest based on his financial worth.”
Lending Limit: In a bid to clarify the lending limit of the loan facility, Sadoh said that the maximum amount of loan a customer with collateral could get is N20 million while those without collateral could get up to N5 million. She also added that the loan is payable over an extended period of 24 months.
What this means: MSMEs are closer to customers and more flexible but their major problem borders on finance. This facility, which is expected to be disbursed in 48 hours, will help MSMEs receive the needed funds to keep their businesses afloat and sort out their expenses.
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