Micro, Small and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs) in the country are soon to enjoy Ecobank’s newly sourced N50 billion credit facility to support their economic activities.
The Managing Director of Ecobank Nigeria, Patrick Akinwuntan, who disclosed this in a statement, said the bank recognizes MSMEs as the drivers of post COVID-19 economic recovery for Nigeria, stressing that additional funding support from the bank would further boost the sector’s activities and drive the much-needed growth in the country through more job and wealth creation.
In his words, “The proceeds of the financing will support MSMEs in the country and is particularly useful for this segment where access to bank loans is considered as the biggest impediment to growth even as MSMEs currently account for about half of the country’s gross domestic product and… 96 per cent of the total number of businesses, this support will definitely make a positive impact.”
Managing Director of Ecobank Nigeria, Patrick Akinwuntan
He noted that as an MSME friendly institution, Ecobank has been helping in capacity building; providing simple and easy access to loans in various sectors including manufacturing, agriculture, creative industry, healthcare, general commerce and services.
“Our robust digital platforms help facilitate transaction convenience for our clients particularly during this Covid pandemic and helped with the ease of doing business. Our award winning Omnilite digital banking platform helps businesses with a wide array of payment services electronically, while our POS machines and Ecobankpay solutions are widely deployed to assist with collections.” He noted.
For her part, the Executive Director, Commercial Banking, Carol Oyedeji, affirmed that Ecobank Nigeria has been in a pole position in supporting small businesses. “The bank has entered strategic partnerships with various development institutions to support both funding and risk sharing for MSME lending across various sectors of the economy. Small business owners can therefore avail themselves of this opportunity presented to grow and further expand. ” She said.
Executive Director, Commercial Banking, Ecobank, Carol Oyedeji
Ecobank was recently named among the top 3 banks for SMEs in the Customer Experience Satisfaction survey conducted by a leading audit and professional services company, KPMG Nigeria. Prior to this the bank was given the BusinessDay award for Best Agric Bank in Nigeria.
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