130 Corps Members To Get N2m Loan Each From Bank Of Industry

This was disclosed by the managing director/CEO of the Bank of Industry limited, Rasheed Olaoluwa, who said the BOI loan was granted to the corps members to assist them to become entrepreneurs rather than seekers of the white collar jobs.

Speaking on Wednesday in Jalingo during the opening of the graduate entrepreneurship fund capacity building programme, Olaoluwa said “Provision of concessional loans to the trainee participants that subsequently came up with bankable business plans, I am pleased to inform you that the online business ideas competition portal went live on October 5, 2015 and by the time entries closed on November 3, 2015, a total of 3, 100 applications were received.”

According to him, BOI set up a 10- man committee panel to review the entries and shortlist candidates that were able to clearly and logically outline their business ideas and basic requirements for the implementation of the ideas.

He said a total of 1, 000 candidates with the highest scores were shortlisted for the three- day capacity building programme, stressing that all the 1,000 candidates were validated by the NYSC Directorate.

He said that the process was highly transparent, adding that at the end of the training, participants would be required to submit their loan applications to BIO along with their business plans.

He stated that bankable business propositions will be funded in fulfillment of the third stage of the GEF programme, stressing that the loan to each beneficiary will be a maximum of N2 million administered at a single digit interest rate of 9% per annum, with tenor ranging between 3-5 years.

On his own part, the Director- General, NYSC, Brig-Gen JB Olawumi urged the beneficiaries to take advantage of the opportunity given to them by BOI to demonstrate the capability of youths to excel if given the needed support and enabling environment.