The Nation Newspaper

Tag: MarketMoni

  • TraderMoni loans not for election purpose, Presidency insists

    The Presidency on Thursday said that the TraderMoni scheme and other GEEP micro-credit products (MarketMoni and FarmerMoni), which are components of the Buhari administration’s Social Investment Programme, are still very much in operation.

    A statement by Mr Laolu Akande, the Senior Special Assistant on Media & Publicity to the President (Office of the Vice President), said that the loans are not for the purpose of election.

    According to a progress report on the GEEP micro-credit products (TraderMoni, MarketMoni, and FarmerMoni), he disclosed that over 30,000 beneficiaries per state have been captured under the programme.

    He said “So far, a target of 30,000 minimum beneficiaries per state has been achieved in majority of the 36 states and FCT since after the national and state polls.”

    “What the implementing agency has been doing since the last phase of disbursements is generating the balance of program funding while ramping up on the states with shortages.”

    “Consequently, disbursements have continued to happen in the states; for instance, we have had over 28,000 disbursements across 10 states since after the elections. Our priority is ramping up these numbers in the balance of states before we move to phase two of the program after detailed reviews and structural enhancements for larger scale. Under the Next Level agenda, Trader Moni loans will target ten million petty traders, a significant ramp up from the initial target of two million beneficiaries.”

    On the role of the Ministry for Industry, Trade and Investment in the implementation of the scheme, he said, “it is actively involved in the project.”

    Mr Akande said, “that ministry is, in fact the oversighting Ministry of Bank of Industry, which is the deploying agency. The office of the Minister executes the GEEP program via the Bank of Industry.

    “The governance structure of GEEP includes the office of the Vice President (National Social Investment Office), The Ministry of Trade and Investment, and the Bank of Industry.”

    Speaking on measures adopted to enhance repayments, the Presidential Media Aide said GEEP has pioneered innovative solutions to drive repayment compliance.

    “Working with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), we successfully piloted the concept of the BVN as digital collateral; and we saw repayment go up significantly on the MarketMoni and FarmerMoni loans.

    “For TraderMoni, beneficiaries can pay back at any commercial bank in the country just like a NEPA or WAEC bill; all they need to provide the bank teller with is their phone number. We also developed and successfully piloted scratch cards as a repayment option for beneficiaries who stay kilometres away from the nearest banks in their community. The cards are loaded the same way Telco recharge cards are loaded, thus requiring no new learning curve.

    “This improved repayment received compliance to the extent that in January, the Bank of Industry began second level disbursements – disbursements of N15,000 – to beneficiaries in Lagos, Borno, Ogun and Oyo states for trader who had successfully paid back their first N10,000 loans,” Mr Akande disclosed.

    According to him, “GEEP’s vision (in the long term) remains to empower the over 30 million MSMEs in Nigeria with interest-free, collateral-free loans.”

    The GEEP programme, a component of the Buhari administration’s Social Investment Programme (SIP) has since inception about two years ago, impacted many lives, improved living conditions and expanded opportunities for ordinary Nigerians to do petty trading as well as small and medium scale businesses.

    Under the Trader Moni scheme, an initial N10,000 loan is given to petty traders and once they repay within six months, they can receive a new N15,000 loan and when they repay that they can get another N20,000 loan until they get as much as N100,000

  • Oyo boosts trade with GEEP MarketMoni loans

    Over 12,000 beneficiaries from Oyo State are now counting their gains from the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) MarketMoni interest-free loans.

    The Federal Government revealed this today at the state’s Micro, Small and Medium-Scale Enterprise (MSME) Clinic, where the Vice-President Prof Yemi Osinbajo interacted with over 2,500 of the beneficiaries in the ancient city of Ibadan.

    Speaking at the event, the Vice President stated that “the president has directed the expansion of the GEEP MarketMoni loan to accommodate the least traders.”  According to him, it is “the hope of Mr President to broaden opportunities to every Nigerian by providing such loans such as the MarketMoni loans,  TraderMoni, and the latest being the FarmerMoni to accommodate  even the least trader.”

    He added that the loan is meant for every Nigerian who is willing to work, earn a living and at the same be a partner in the ongoing efforts at resuscitating the economy.

    Also speaking, Oyo State governor, Abiola Ajimobi said the importance of MSMEs to the economy and lauded the Federal Government for its outstanding initiatives geared at bolstering the economy by empowering MSMEs. He stated that “small business is where prosperity begins because it is the live-wire of the economy.”

    He said the Federal Government must be commended not only for realising this, but also in reinforcing it through their great initiatives.

    The Executive Director, Financial Inclusio ,  Bank of Industry (Bol), Toyin Adeniji,  said  GEEP MarketMoni is a self-sustaining programme that has come to stay. “We have given out loans to thousands of people across the country. Recently we were in Edo to interact with beneficiaries, and we are doing the same today in Oyo State with over 12,000 beneficiaries. Between N10,000 to N100,000 is being disbursed specially for market women, traders, farmers,  who are in the lower cadre of financial inclusion in the country. We have even commenced another scheme known as TraderMoni which is targeted at those in the far remote ebb of financial inclusion,” Adeniji said.

    GEEP MarketMoni loans are repayable in six months with five per cent administrative charge. To ensure that the loan instalments are paid on time and conveniently, collections begin from the third week after loans are received.

  • MarketMoni loans get to Plateau, Jigawa, Kebbi

    MarketMoni, one of the social intervention programmes of the Federal Government, has been launched  in Plateau, Jigawa and Kebbi states.

    The initiative, also known as the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), is a microcredit scheme providing interest-free loans to market women, artisans,enterprising youth and farmers.

    The scheme, executed by the Bank of Industry (BoI), seeks to bridge the long-standing financing gap for Nigerian micro-businesses at the base of the pyramid. MarketMoni targets beneficiaries through their accredited market associations and cooperatives. Beneficiaries are required to have Biometric Verification Numbers (BVNs), and receive loans between N10,000 to N100,000 repayable over six months with a one-time five per cent administrative fee.

    At a disbursement event held in Jos, the Plateau State Focal Person for the Federal Government’s Social Intervention Programmes, Sumaye Hamza, praised government’s efforts for bringing the programme to Plateau. “We are happy. You can also see the people are very happy. We really commend the Federal Government for keeping to its promise. We look forward to thousands more beneficiaries from Plateau State,” he said.

    The MarketMoni disbursements comes through a partnership between the Bank of Industry (BoI) and Development Exchange Centre, a rural-focused microfinance institution with operations in 18 northern  states. The pilot phase of this alliance is to grant loans to over 10,000 Nigerians at the base of the pyramid, while ushering them into the formal financial system through the provision of Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs) and bank accounts.

    Given the rural focus of the wave of disbursements, BoI has provided significant support to Development Exchange Centre in integrating its members into the formal financial system. BoI, working with the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), will be providing BVNs on-site to these MarkeMoni beneficiaries who would otherwise commute for several hours by road to access banks.

  • MarketMoni beneficiaries get cash

    The Federal Government has commenced disbursement of interest-free loans to the latest accredited beneficiaries of MarketMoni, the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), targeting market women and traders, artisans, youths and farmers.

    MarketMoni is one of four schemes under the Social Intervention Programme of the Government, and is being executed by the Bank of Industry (BoI).

    As part of the efforts of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to stimulate the economy and deepen financial inclusion for the under-banked and unbanked, over 24,000 Nigerians, including market women and traders, artisans, and youths – have so far benefited from the scheme since its roll-out last December.

    The Office of the Vice-President said the Federal Government has commenced disbursements in 13 states and the Federal Capital Territory, through the BoI, saying it would be expanded cover all the states over the next two months. The areas of current disbursement include Abuja, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Ekiti, Kogi, Kwara, Niger, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo and Rivers.

    At an Abuja stakeholder discussion on the scheme, BoI Acting Managing Director, Waheed Olagunju, reiterated that MarketMoni was a demonstration of the government’s resolve to accelerate development of Nigeria’s microenterprises. He urged beneficiaries to be judicious in the use of the funds and to pay back, as it enables the programme to remain sustainable and expand its reach to millions of Nigerians and stimulate economic activity at the base of the pyramid.

    BoI’s Executive Director, Microenterprises, Ms. Toyin Adeniji said: “Not only does access to affordable finance enable people grow their economic opportunity; it also breaks poverty barriers and pushes the frontiers of inclusive growth and financial advancement. The target N140-billion programme seeks to deliver this. We are working round the clock to scale the programme, and we are happy with the progress we have made so far.”