Up to N25m Loans for Graduate Entrepreneurs

To maximize the potential of recent graduates who want to become entrepreneurs, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has released guidelines for the implementation of its Tertiary Institutions Entrepreneurship Scheme (TIES).

In a document published and signed by Yusuf Yila Philip, the CBN’s director of development finance, the apex bank made this information public on Wednesday.

According to the CBN, the TIES’s goal is to improve students’ and graduates’ access to financing in Nigeria who have creative technology and entrepreneurial ideas.

According to the bank, the program is intended to provide yearly funding for 25,000 gradpreneurs, who will then generate an additional 75,000 sustainable jobs.

Startups and established companies in industries like agribusiness, information technology, the creative sector, as well as research and technology, according to the CBN, are eligible for financing under the program.

It further stated that innovative entrepreneurial activities with strong potentials for export, job creation, and transformative impact will be given precedence.

The term loan, equity investment, and developmental components would all be used to implement the scheme, according to the apex bank.

An individual project can obtain a maximum loan of N5 million under the term loan component, with a five-year term and a five percent annual interest rate (nine percent effective from March 1, 2022, or as may be prescribed by the CBN)