TraderMoni, one part of the two-year-old Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme, was conceived to be of benefit to all Nigerian groups, an official of the Bank of Industry says.
Toyin Adeniji, the Executive Director, Micro-Enterprises, on Saturday in Abuja said this was why the package was designed in a way to be very convenient for all beneficiaries.
Adeniji said: “TraderMoni was conceived in May 2016. It is a part of the 2-year-old GEEP, which is a social intervention scheme of the Federal Government, being executed by BOI.
“GEEP has been providing interest-free loans to traders and artisans across all 36 states of Nigeria and the FCT since May 17, 2016.
“It has three products, and these are GEEP MarketMoni, GEEP FarmerMoni and GEEP TraderMoni.”
The BOI official however said the TraderMoni programme, which had its sixth sensitisation event in Osun State on Monday, commenced in May 2018.
She said: “It was only first publicly activated on Aug. 7 in five markets in Lagos State, with beneficiaries in Mushin, Ikotun, Agege, Ketu, and Abule-Egba markets in the state.
“This product involves loans starting at N10,000, and they are for petty traders for whom MarketMoni and FarmerMoni are too large, and for whom the bank account and BVN requirements have been barriers.
“Paying back the first loan guarantees automatic disbursement of N15,000, and subsequent loans of N20,000, N50,000, and N100,000.
“Candidates are enumerated in their trade clusters by the over 4,000 TraderMoni agents nationwide.
“They are verified by the Bank of Industry, and loans are disbursed directly to their mobile wallets.”
Adeniji added that there have subsequently been similar activations in seven states.
She said: “We activated it in Kano State on August 18, Abia on August 20, Akwa Ibom on August 21, Katsina State on September 1, Osun last Monday, Abuja in the FCT on Thursday and Kogi today (Saturday).”
She stated that the only requirement to be a TraderMoni beneficiary was that such a person must be a Nigerian and a petty trader.
She said: “It has been designed to be easily accessed, contrary to what some people may think.
“As a programme, we have never, and will never, enquire about the political affiliations of a trader. A paper form or `PVC check’, as being speculated, is not part of the registration process.”
Adeniji then urged all well-meaning Nigerians to join BOI at the programme’s activation events.
She said: “If you cannot join us at the activation events, just visit any of the major trade clusters in your state to see the TraderMoni programme in action.
“We are also open to feedback on how to continually scale and strengthen TraderMoni’s impact, which is our number one goal.
“People can even e-mail us on [email protected].”
Adeniji also used the opportunity to explain the other two GEEP products.
She said: “The GEEP programme, by design, comprises of three products. One is the GEEP TraderMoni, while another one is GEEP MarketMoni, which has been on since May 2016, and over 350,000 loans have been disbursed till date.
“These are loans of N50,000 and N100,000, for structured traders and artisans through their market associations and cooperatives.
“The third one is the GEEP FarmerMoni, which has been on since May 2017, with up to 5,000 loans disbursed and the figure growing.
“These are larger loans of N300,000 each, for structured farmers through their farming cooperatives. In this product, BVN and bank accounts are required.”