Student entrepreneur to get #200M loan

Joy Imanah,Ogunsola Adedolpa, Opeyemi Kareem, Ojelabi Kehinde

Succour has come for student entrepreneurs as entrepreneurship and Skill Development Centre and Bank Of Industry (BOI) wraps up a 200 million loan to enable students actualize their dreams. 

Student entrepreneurs, who scale the hurdle, will get a #2 million loan to birth their  dreams. The loan attracts a five percent interest rate with a one year moratorium.

The director of the Centre, Dr. Sunday Adebisi who revealed this in an interview explained that the seed-fund would be made available to students with registered businesses in the school upon approval by the Center.

“BOI is in the process of signing 200 million naira seed-fund with us for which each of the students of this University that have good businesses that have been profiled will have access to two million naira at a meager percentage of 5% for you to be able to kickstart your businesses and equally have a moratorium of one year,” Adebisi said.

He said the moratorium would ease their burdens to enable them build their businesses  and pay the loan after one year.

“That is to say you have a moratorium on using the money for one year before you start paying back. So, we have sealed the deal and we are about signing. The MOU now is with our lawyer, the university lawyer. BOI is already done with it… Once we finish the 200 million, BOI will give us another 200 million.

What we need to do is that any student that collects the fund must be able to pay back the fund and we must see the schedule of paying the money back and be able to do business and support the businesses,”Adebisi added

Adebisi who also  doubles as the director of  Africa Research Universities Alliance (ARUA), Center of Excellence for Employment and Skill Development,further described the centre as all-inclusive,welcoming part-time and full-time students from all disciplines who are interested in entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity. 

“All that qualifies you to be our student is to have a matric number, be interested, to be innovative, to want to be creative and to want to do entrepreneurship and you are our client.”

Commenting on the Vice Chancellor’s drive to build the university into a hub of entrepreneurship growth, he said “the Vice Chancellor of this University has been extremely supportive of entrepreneurship. He is passionate about entrepreneurship, he is passionate about innovation.”