The Managing Director of the Bank of Industry (BoI), Olasupo Olusi, announced that the bank has successfully raised over $5 billion from international capital markets since 2017.
He shared this information during a news conference held on Thursday to commemorate BoI’s 65th anniversary in Lagos.
The funds were obtained through various means, including Eurobonds, loan syndications, and green finance instruments.
Olusi emphasized the bank's journey from its inception as the Investment Company of Nigeria (ICON) in 1959 to its rebranding as the Bank of Industry in 2001.
He also mentioned that in November 2023, the bank completed a global loan syndication, securing at least two billion euros. This achievement represents the largest fundraising effort in BoI’s history and the most significant syndication ever recorded among African Development Finance Institutions (DFIs).
“BoI has partnerships with state governments, and foundations to establish the ‘Matching Fund’ scheme. We also have partnerships with trade associations, such as the National Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME), Nigerian Association of Small Scale Industrialists (NASSI), and Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), to deepen real sector financing.
“BoI recently signed a partnership agreement with SMEDAN to provide Nano and Micro Enterprises in Nigeria with a one billion dollar fund at a single-digit interest rate,” Olusi said.
Olusi noted that the Federal Government has recently designated the Bank of Industry (BoI) as the executing agency for the $200 billion FGN MSME Intervention Fund. This fund encompasses a N50 billion Presidential Conditional Grant Scheme (PCGS), a N75 billion Manufacturing Sector Fund, and a N75 billion MSME Intervention Sector Fund.
“Our strategic partnerships also extend to numerous organisations, such as African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Finance Corporation (AFC), Investment Climate Reform (ICR) initiative, and the African Guarantee Fund (AGF). Other are the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), the United States Export Import Bank (USEXIM), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), amongst others,” he said.
Also, Shekarau Omar, BoI’s Executive Director for MSMEs, stated that the bank aims to distribute N120 billion to two million micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) by the year's end. He mentioned that although the initial target was N103 billion for 1.5 million MSMEs in 2024, the bank has already surpassed this objective.
As of October, Omar reported that the bank had disbursed N107 billion to a greater number of MSMEs than initially anticipated.
He emphasized the significance of the MSME sector, estimating that Nigeria's MSME potential ranges between 39 and 40 million businesses.
Recently, the Bank of Industry (BOI) announced the disbursement of over N37.8 billion through the Presidential Conditional Grant Scheme, also referred to as the Trade Grant Scheme.
This scheme is a support initiative aimed at nano businesses, with a goal of assisting 1 million beneficiaries, each receiving N50,000. The program is designed to allocate 70% of the grants to women and youth, 10% to individuals with disabilities, 5% to senior citizens, and the remaining 15% to other demographics. To date, more than 700,000 individuals have benefited from the scheme, while over 200,000 applicants are still pending their grants.