Fidelity Bank Plc and Heritage Bank Plc have at the different fora disclosed their plans to increase lending to Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprise (MSMSs).
Fidelity Bank planned to raise N30 billion bond to finance Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises while, Heritage Bank Plc. would launch N500 million to support a youth empowerment program targeted at students and young entrepreneurs.
The Managing Director of Fidelity Bank Plc, Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo has revealed that the bank was determined to increase its lending to Micro, Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) by 50 percent 2017.
Okonkwo disclosed that 80 percent of the net proceed of the N30 billion corporate bonds it hoped to raise through the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) would be used for the purpose.
He said, the net proceeds of the bond would be used to fund the MSMEs which have been peddled as the next cash cow.
Meanwhile, Heritage Bank Ltd. also revealed that it had boosted its entrepreneurship support with the launch of a N500 million Young Entrepreneurs and Students (YES) Grant.
According to the Managing Director, Mr. Ifie Sekibo, the initiative was a partnership with the Nigerian Youth Professional Forum (NYPF) aimed to support students and young entrepreneurs toward socio-economic freedom.
Sekibo said, the bank’s support for the program arose from the fact that the initiative aligned with the bank’s vision, which is to help create, preserve and transfer wealth across generations.
He added that the bank would also support the project in terms of training the beneficiaries, disbursement of the grant, monitoring and evaluation of project’s milestones agreed with the beneficiaries.
The two banks are quoted on the floors of The Nigerian Stocks Exchange.
