Umuchinemere Pro-credit Micro-finance Bank said it defied COVID’19 pandemic to empower a total of 2,356 active poor people in Enugu State with the sum of N518.8million operational capital to finance their micro and small scale enterprises to sustain and improve their well being in the first six months of 2020, pursuant to its objective of poverty alleviation as envisioned by its owner, the Catholic Diocese of Enugu.

A statement from the bank explained that the Umuchinemere Pro-credit Micro-finance Bank (UPMFB), Enugu, defied the heavy economic downtrend caused by COVID’19 pandemic disease and empowered a total of 2,356 active poor people in Enugu State with the sum of N518,812,400 operational capital to finance their micro and small scale enterprises to sustain and improve their well being in the first six months of 2020.

This was contained in a press release signed by the bank’s head of the public/media relations unit, Sir Abuchi Anueyiagu. According to the release the outbreak of the pandemic disease had forced a total lockdown of the country for three months, leading to stringent economic difficulties that heavily affected the money market, with the Umuchinemere Pro-credit Micro Finance Bank (UPMFB) not excluded from the difficulties.

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The fund, which is approximately N46.8m fewer than the amount of N565,584,457 that the bank disbursed to a total of 2,503 persons same period in the previous year, is meant to engage the beneficiaries in meaningful micro and small scale enterprises to sustain and improve their quality of lives. In the gender distribution of the beneficiaries of the approximately a total of N519m, a total of 1,007 females were given the sum of N288,215,500, while a total of 1,349 male beneficiaries received the balance of N230,596,900.

The sum of N37m was granted to farmers as agriculture loans, as against the sum of N50million that was given to farmers within the same period in 2019.

According to the UPMFB’s head of Credit department, Mr. Charles Udeani, “There was a general decline in loan disbursement, both in terms of amount/volume and number of beneficiaries from the preceding year, with a 147 decrease in the number of the beneficiaries from the one of 2019.” Umuchinemere Pro-credit Micro Finance Bank is among the leading microfinance institutions helping to enhance the quality of life and well being of the active poor.