First Bank of Nigeria Ltd. has announced the launch of the FirstGem fund (FirstGem loan) a single-digit loan scheme, targeted at female entrepreneurs.
Mrs Folake Ani-Mumuney, the bank’s Group Head, Marketing and Corporate Communications, made the announcement in a statement on Sunday in Lagos.
The scheme is targets young female entrepreneurs who are 18 years and above.
According to Ani-Mumuney said the FirstGem loan scheme was designed for female-owned or partnered SMEs who were into food/beverage processing and packaging, beauty and cosmetics, confectionaries, catering and restaurants, transportation (Logistics) and agric/agro-allied (retail value chain).
Ani-Mumuney said that the avenue was created to enlarge the business activities of female entrepreneurs.
This clearly states that the scheme aims to give female entrepreneurs an advantage and an edge in Nigeria.
She said: “We are delighted with the role our FirstGem product plays in creating an avenue to enlarge the business activities and endeavours of female entrepreneurs across the country.
“Our FirstGem value proposition offers real solutions to constraints encountered by female entrepreneurs and working professionals, as it exposes women to opportunities for the advancement of their business.
“We implore every female business-minded individual to take advantage of the FirstGem loan as it puts them at an advantage to contribute their quota to the national economy.”
She said that the FirstGem loan with an interest rate of nine per cent per annum was a collateral-free loan available to the bank’s existing and prospective female customers.
She said that based on eligibility customers could access loans from N500,000 to N3,000,000.
She also said that the loan was targeted at a broad spectrum of women, working professionals, entrepreneurs or market women through an array of benefits such as free business advisory services.
