Edo Government Reiterates Commitment To Ensure MSMEs Access Loans Easily

The Edo State Government has reiterated its commitment to making sure that Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the state are able to access loans easily.

The Managing Director, Edo State Investment Promotion Office (ESIPO), Kelvin Uwaibi, made this known during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Benin on Wednesday.

Uwaibi said as a result of the Obaseki-led government’s dedication to improving MSMEs, a committee has been put in place to make sure that operators of MSMEs are able to access an N2 billion loan.

“The committee is supporting MSMEs to ensure that they meet the criteria to access loans because we have found out that most of them don’t meet the criteria when it comes to accessing loans.

“Most MSMEs operators do not keep their records but the big business does, so we are focusing on how the artisans, micro and small businesses can keep financial records to enable them access loans.

“The state government is currently partnering with an Information Technology company to equip 10,000 MSMEs with skills to keep their financial records using digital applications.

“We want to make them understand how they can upscale, the MSMEs committee is looking at a holistic way to tackle the challenges MSMEs face,’’ he said.

The managing director said ESIPO had been collaborating with the Bank of Industry (BOI), GIZ, SMEDAN, Edo Ministry of Trade, Cooperatives and Edojobs to boost support for MSMEs.

“We are taking the MSMEs very seriously and we are having more organisations coming to support them, we have a dedicated agency that is training MSMEs, the Edojobs,’’ he said