No fewer than 1,000 entrepreneurs have been trained by the Oyo State National Directorate of Employment (NDE) preparatory to accessing the loan facilities under the Agri-Business/Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS).
The facility is being provided by the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) and the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Oyo State NDE Coordinator, Mrs Olayinka Olayemi, disclosed this at the flag-off of the fourth cycle training of some entrepreneurs in the state.
She said the trained entrepreneurs would present bankable feasibility reports and business plans to access the loans.
“The training organised by the Small Scale Enterprise Department of the NDE will enable participating entrepreneurs to prepare bankable feasibility reports and business plans that are in tune with extant needs of the people.
“About 1,000 entrepreneurs have been trained by NDE in the state,” Persecondnews quotes Olayemi as saying.
She said the new trainees would also be shortlisted for the CBN NIRSAL/AGSMEIS loan.
According to the coordinator, 250 beneficiaries who had so far uploaded their business plans to the NIRSAL website are on the verge of accessing their loans.
On women programme, Olayemi disclosed that the state office had concluded a five-day programme for 50 women on COVID-19 mitigation training on spices production.
“COVID -19 is a pandemic that has ravaged the world in every aspect of human endeavour, ranging from health to all others.
“The virus which has claimed millions of lives around the world is yet to get a cure and findings have shown that only natural elements can be used to militate against the virus.
“As a result of that, the NDE designed the COVID-19 training in spices production for the women to enhance positive change in the world,” she said.
Olayemi said that the spices production training was part of the renewed efforts of government geared toward encouraging home-made products, thereby reducing importation of household cooking ingredients.
She was optimistic that the training would help the beneficiaries to be more productive, self-reliant as well as also reduce poverty to the barest minimum in the country.
In her remarks, Mrs Joyce Yarnap, Head of Women Employment Branch, Small Scale Enterprises at the NDE headquarters, said the training was in line with the directorate’s mandate of reducing unemployment in the country.
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