MTN partners with LAPO Microfinance Bank to Fund Retailers’ Business

As part of the efforts to grow Small enterprises to Medium and Large enterprise in Nigeria, MTN Nigeria has partnered with LAPO Microfinance Bank to extend loans obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s Micro Small and Medium Enterprise Fund (MSMEDF) to its retailers.

This resulted in the initiative ‘MTN BizGrow’, a SME credit product designed to meet the funding needs of MTN retailers.

The partnership will enable the operator’s retailers to access credit by leveraging the small and medium enterprise development initiative of the CBN.

The partnership event held at Oriental Hotel had in attendance the Sales and Distribution Executive, MTN Nigeria; ‘Tsola Barrow; Managing Director of LAPO Microfinance Bank, Godwin Ehigiamusoe, representatives from CBN and other MTN retailers.

LAPO is the first partner engaged by MTN to extend the loan facility obtained under the CBN’s SME development fund programme to provide funds to MTN retailers. To access the loan, participants must be MTN retailers and must have been in business for a minimum 12 months.

The participant must open an account with LAPO and must provide a guarantor. The loans can be accessed at any LAPO branch in the 28 states in Nigeria. Loans will be a minimum of NGN 50,000 and a maximum of NGN 100,000, with no tangible collateral required.