Thread by @yinkanubi

@realvictorsam Victor, because you asked respectfully, I will respond to you respectfully as well. This will be in several tweets. So don't interrupt until I finish.

Now the FG has a prog called the Govt Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) implemented by the Bank of Industry (BOI)

@realvictorsam GEEP has two pillers. First is called #MarketMoni and the second is called #TraderMoni. MarketMoni is a scheme for soft loans to small traders ranging from N10,000 - N100,000. You decide the amount you need whether N10,000, N20,000, N50,000 or N100,000.

@realvictorsam The repayment period is for 6 months and there is 5% admin fee. No interest is charged. There is even a two weeks grace period to pay back. Once you finish paying, you can apply for a higher value or the same value. That is basically left to you.

@realvictorsam What are the requirements to apply?
1. You must belong to a registered and accredited market ass or cooperative which must be registered with BOI
2. You must have BVN
3. Your mkt ass or coop must nominate you for a loan and stand as your guarantor.
4. You must have a biz location

@realvictorsam So basically to access #MarketMoni, you need to belong to a mkt association or a cooperative. Because the money will be disbursed through your cooperative. And you can borrow upto N100,000 as many times as you can pay back.

Now let's talk about #TraderMoni

@realvictorsam #TraderMoni is a mobile phone driven initiative. Unlike #MarketMoni, you don't need to be a member of a cooperative to access it. While MarketMoni targets micro traders that are a bit structured (i.e. belong to an ass), TraderMoni is targeted at the ultra-micro enterprises.

@realvictorsam With #TraderMoni you can access N10,000 and pay back N10,250 to qualify for N15,000. Once you payback N15,375 you will qualify for N20,000 loan, when you pay back N21,000 you will get N50,000. The repayment period remains for 6 months with zero interest charged.

@realvictorsam How do you get registered? You need a mobile phone. Once your details is captured by agents and sent to BoI system for validation, you'll within 48hrs get cash notification in your mobile wallet acc. You can either transfer to your bank acc or cash at mobile money agent around.

@realvictorsam So in a nutshell while #MarketMoni gives out from N10K - N100K (with requirements of belonging to a registered cooperative), #MarketMoni gives us loans from between N10K - N50k without that requirement. The repayment period remains the same (6 mths) and u can return several times

@realvictorsam Now...why starting from N10k for both #MarketMoni and #TraderMoni (eventhough you start apply for higher than N10k if you wish)...the reason is simple. The people targeted for this loans are at the Micro Level. In 2013, NBS and SMEDAN did a survey and they found out that...

@realvictorsam ..The total number of MSMEs in Nigeria stood at 37,067,416 (Micro-36,994,578, Small- 68,168, and Medium-4,670). 68.35% of this number (i.e. 23.3m MSMEs) initial start-up capital was predominantly less than N50,000. This was the justification and it was based on data not politics.

@realvictorsam You may ask, why not N1m or N10m or N50m? It is because there are already other intervention funds like the CBN MSMEDF which gives from N500,000 to N50m to SMEs. To access this fund, you need a business plan, you need to be registered with CAC and you need collateral.

@realvictorsam How many market women, artisans and traders do you know who can prepare a business plan, register their business with CAC and have sufficient collateral to attract the CBN's N220 Billion SME loan? Aside from this, the BOI also has a similar loan targeted at SMEs as well.

@realvictorsam So what has been happening is that the big SME's with the strength to do so have been able to access the other intervention funds targeted at SMEs, but those at the micro level have been unable to do so mainly because of structural reasons. This's why they were targeted with GEEP

@realvictorsam So the idea that this is some vote buying scheme is ridiculous. Don't go with the crowd. If the govt can help these people scale up by supporting their business with micro credit, they benefit, the economy benefits with higher GDP and we all benefit.

I'm done.

@realvictorsam *pillars

@realvictorsam Correction: #TraderMoni not #MarketMoni gives us loans from between N10K - N50k without that requirement.