IFC, ECOBANK TO FINANCE ENTREPRENEURS IN AFRICA

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, parent company of the Ecobank Group has announced the launch of a US$110 million risk-sharing facility for small and medium sized enterprises in fragile and conflict-affected states in West Africa.

This is cheery news for entrepreneurs in Nigeria as it will help them overcome the problem of financing which is one of the major challenges faced by Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria.

According to IFC Director for West and Central Africa, Saran Kebet-Koulibaly, With IFC and Ecobank sharing the risk equally in the $110 million facility, SMEs in the beneficiary countries will gain increased access to loans through Ecobank affiliates.

On the part of Ecobank Group, the institution’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Albert Essien said “Ecobank remains committed to supporting SMEs, and this facility will go a long way to giving SMEs in fragile states or those emerging from conflict the kind of access to finance they need.

As a follow up to this development, Ecobank has launched the SME Club. The Ecobank SME Club aims to provide preferential Business Support and tailored products and services to its teeming customers across the country. The SME Club serves as a platform for adding value to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) through information mining, networking and capacity building.

The benefits derivable by members of the Ecobank SME Club are numerous. Some of them are outlined below:

·         It offers Business/capacity development and technical assistance.

· Provides specialized services to businesses in the following aspects- accounting, tax, legal and other services.

·   It also provides Business to Business (B2B) linkage across Africa; access to market information, economic updates, exchange rate information.

·        It offers access to International markets and finance; online marketing/sales (24/7); active support from government backed organisations and quarterly working sessions led by experts.

Ecobank SME Club in partnership with the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) of the Pan-Atlantic University is hereby calling for applications for the following programs.

1.     Ecobank New Venture Initiative: Under this programme, 50 Businesses with the best Business prospects will be selected by EDC to pitch to EDC for Ecobank Business Grants. 5 Finalists will be selected to be fellows at the finale.

2.     Ecobank Shared Services: This involves Provision of Centralized Accounting, Tax, Audit, Legal and other services to the SMEs using dedicated channels so as to structurally position the companies for growth by developing them into companies with structures.

For details on benefits of the two new Initiatives and to submit an application, download the flyer from: http://entrepre-news.com/sme-club-ecobank-partners-edc-for-nigerian-entrepreneurs/

Thinking Minds Integrated Business Solutions organizes monthly sensitization seminars on the practical ways of establishing micro, small-medium scale enterprises. For free consultancy services, call: 2348033291724, 2348052833097. E-mail: thinkingminds@ymail.com.

ELUE GODWIN'S GREEN STORIES : MICRO BUSINESS, THE SHORTCUT OUT OF POVERTY AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN NIGERIA (I).

ELUE GODWIN'S GREEN STORIES : MICRO BUSINESS, THE SHORTCUT OUT OF POVERTY AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN NIGERIA (I).

MICRO BUSINESS, THE SHORTCUT OUT OF POVERTY AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN NIGERIA (I).

Since Nigeria attained her political independence in 1960, the problem of rising unemployment and poverty have remained a puzzle that the various successive administrations in Nigeria have not been able to solve. While several economic programmes and policies have been implemented at the federal, state and local government levels to address this twin problem, the average Nigerian have become more and more impoverished as such policy measures/programmes only succeeded in creating avenue for the operators to have their own share of the national cake.

I have decided to write this note, at a time that many Nigerians are looking up with great hope for a change in their living condition from the incoming administration in Nigeria. I am not a pessimist but it is important I explain some facts to my audience so that they do set themselves up for another disappointment.

Firstly, I want you to understand that there is no nation, anywhere in the world where the government has succeeded in providing full employment for her citizens. For instance, from 2004 to 2010, U.S. micro-businesses created a net of 5.5 million jobs. In Canada, Small businesses play a large role in net job creation, creating 77.7 percent of all private jobs. In almost all the Asian countries today, small businesses have become the engine that drives their economies. So, it is practically impossible for any administration in Nigeria to create jobs for the million under/unemployed Nigerians.

Secondly, poverty is a universal factor. Even in America, more than 45 million people, or 14.5 percent of Americans, live below the poverty line. And the reason is this, as long as you remain a consumer and not producing anything, you will always remain within the poverty circle. Let me give you an illustration. Let us assume that President Buhari decides to fight poverty by giving every Nigerian N10,000,000 each. Within a period of one to two years, you will observe that those who have means of production in Nigeria will become richer by over 50%. For instance, the food stuff sellers will be making more money, car dealers will be making more money, sellers of building materials will make more money, etc. but those who have nothing to sell will soon run out of cash because their target will be to get all the good things they desired in life.

Some of the questions that most participants at our monthly business seminars usually ask are:

-         How can one survive in business in Nigeria where there is no light?

-         How can one raise money to start the kind of business that he/she desires?

-         What is your own question? You are free to send it anyway.  

These kind of questions is what I will devout my time to be dealing with in this write-up and subsequent posts on this my blog.

According to Stephen Dooley, Jr., “A man who wants to do something will find a way; a man who doesn't will find an excuse.” So, I am writing this post for those who truly want to go into personal business as a way out of unemployment and poverty. But those who believe they prefer to wait for the non existing job, I wish them well, but, don’t forget that time does not wait for any man. You might be adjusting your age downwards in your resume but the fact remains that for each day that goes bye, you are getting older.

Do you truly wish to start your personal business but power supply and capital is your problem? There is no problem; I’ll only plead with you to give a trial to what I will be sharing with you in this blog.

You can start small

With the advancements in information and communication technology (ICT), starting a business today in Nigeria is as simple as ABC. You might not need to rent an office space, you might not need a generating set, and you don’t even need to worry about overheads. That is why at Thinking Minds Integrated Business Solutions, we try as much as possible to help our clients redesign their ideas to fit into a more feasible and workable scenario where the business can satisfy its purpose of providing solutions to customers at a relatively cheaper way.

One of the major advantages of micro businesses is that, they can be established with zero or minimum capital, it’s size makes it easy for the owner-manager to manage, mistakes and errors can be easily absolved and rectified, operating expenses are usually very minimal, etc.  (Watch out for part two).

Thinking Minds Integrated Business Solutions organizes monthly sensitization seminars on the practical ways of establishing micro, small-medium scale enterprises. For free consultancy services, call: 2348033291724, 2348052833097. E-mail: thinkingminds@ymail.com.