Skye Bank Disburses N50m SME Loan

Skye Bank Plc said it has disbursed the sum of N50 million small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) support loan under the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) MSME Intervention fund.

According to a statement issued by the bank, business owners can access the intervention fund if they have a good credit record, loan request is above N5 million, and they operate in any of the following specified sectors of manufacturing, education , Agro value chain and renewable energy.

Speaking on the N50 million SME loan, the bank’s Group Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Timothy Oguntayo, was quoted as saying that the bank would continue to partner with small business owners who are interested in creating value and contributing to the development of the country.

In his remarks the bank’s CEO said that beyond loans, Skye bank had put structures and modalities in place to make the SME sector the true driver of development by helping the operators to overcome their problems and grow their businesses through its sector-based seminar series (Skye Business Seminar) initiative to improve the financial, marketing and managerial skills of the business owners in partnership with affinity groups like BDSPs etc nationwide.

He assured all SME operators of the bank’s support to grow and expand their businesses, saying the bank’s SME support package takes care of all operators.

The CBN had set up the N220 billion SME Support Fund to provide funding to operators in the SME sector who lack capital to expand their businesses and who find it difficult to access loans from the commercial banks due to high interest rates.

Under the scheme, loan beneficiaries pay a single digit interest on loan facilities granted them, and have a longer repayment period, unlike facilities from commercial banks which attract higher interest rates.