Skye Bank Disburses SME Fund

Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Skye Bank Plc, Mr. Timothy Oguntayo

Skye Bank Plc says it has disbursed the sum of N50m Small and Medium Enterprises support loan under the Central Bank of Nigeria’s MSME Intervention fund.

According to a statement by the bank, business owners can access the intervention fund if they have a good credit record, and a loan request that is above N5m.

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.

The lender added that prospective loan applicants were expected to be operating in any of the following specified sectors of manufacturing, education, agro value chain and renewable energy.

The CEO said that beyond the 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.

This, he said, was being done through the bank’s sector-based seminar series initiative aimed at improving the financial, marketing and managerial skills of the SME business owners in partnership with affinity groups like BDSPs.

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

The CBN had set up N220bn MSME 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 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.