By Omodele Adigun
Out of the N220 billion earmarked for the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Fidelity Bank has so far disbursed N2.2 billion to the beneficiaries.
According to its Managing Director, Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo, who disclosed this Tuesday in Lagos during its radio programme, Fidelity SME Forum, which hosted Mrs. Monalisa Chinda-Coker, an actress-turned media entrepreneur, the loan beneficiaries have been committed to repayment that no default has been recorded so far by the bank.
The bank chief used the opportunity to call on other SMEs to take advange of the fund in order to grow their businesses.
His words: “The challenge we have in Nigeria is that we have got so skeptical about good intentions of either the government or the finance sector that people read a lot of meanings to them. But the CBN is very serious about the N220 billion SMEs’ fund. We are witnesses because we have customers who accessed the SME funds through us. We have done about N2.2 billion of the funds. We have got repayment of about N400 million. We haven’t had any default because of the process through which these funds were accessed. CBN cannot go to Aba and start lending money. That is why they need a bank like Fidelity. Our team spent about two weeks there. So we have not abandoned those people. Instead, we planted a bank there, we are even lending to more and more of the customers. I just want to encourage the people to take advantage of this.”
As for the Fidelity talk show, Fidelity SME Forum, Mrs. Chinda-Coker praised the bank for showcasing silent achevers.
She added: “They need to celebrate silent achievers; they need to help them with funding for their businesses and it has been a huge success for the SMEs programme that Fidelity Bank is showcasing. And I am also featuring them in my show as well. It has been a rewarding experience for them.”