Category: News

Following the successful implementation of the ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System (QMS) Certification Programme, we are delighted to announce that the Bank of Industry has been awarded the ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System (QMS) Certification by DQS GmbH; one of the foremost and globally recognized ISO Certification Institutions. This Certification sends a strong signal to all our stakeholders with respect to the Bank’s sheer commitment to quality and customer service.

We should, however, all be mindful of the fact that this Certification marks the beginning of a 3-Year QMS Cycle, during which the Bank is required to continually maintain high standards and improve its Management Systems. Therefore all hands must be on deck to ensure that we pass both the internal and external ISO audits as they take place within the cycle and beyond.

In this light, we shall continuously engage process owners towards ensuring a successful Internal Audit that is planned to take place before the end of Quarter 1 of next year.

Congratulations to all of us for the hard work and dedication towards the attainment of this laudable achievement!

Thank you.

A 10-member board of the Bank of Industry (BoI) has been inaugurated by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Okechukwu Enelamah, which a charge to lift the bank to greater heights.

The members include Aliyu AbdulRahman Dikko as Chairman; Olukayode Pitan, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer; Waheed  Olagunju, Executive Director (SME); Mrs Toyin Adeniji, Executive Director (Micro –Enterprises); and Jonathan Tabin, Executive Director (Corporate Services& Communication).

Others are Chukwuemeka Nzewi, member, National Council, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria; Dr, Bakari Wadingo, Director (Revenue & Investment/MOFI); Femi Edun, Special Assistant to Enelama; and Dr Mudashiru Olaitan, Director (Development Finance Department), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Inaugurating the Board on Tuesday in Abuja, Enelama said the appointments are a call to National Service.

He tasked the board to partner with stakeholders to be able to further raise the standard of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) across Nigeria, while building the necessary capacities for future entrepreneurs in Nigeria, in line with the ideals of the present administration.

Responding, the Board Chairman, Dikko, who expressed gratitude to the minister, said it is a new beginning for the bank. ‘’We will take this as a national assignment, we will touch all aspects of the economy, we shall partner with relevant stakeholders to add value to the growth of small scale businesses.”

Also, in a vote of thanks, Pitan said the bank has concluded arrangements to raise N3 trillion in the next 12 months to further support the MSMEs while working with the CBN as the major partner.

‘Our concern, for now, is to explore four major economic zones in Calabar, Kano, Nnewi, and Akwa-Ibom.

The Bank of Industry and the government of Ebonyi State on Friday, 23rd of June, 2017 agreed to set up a N2bn fund for the development of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in the state.

The agreement for the N2bn fund was finalised by the Managing Director of the BoI, Mr. Kayode Pitan, and the Governor of Ebonyi State, Mr. David Umahi.

Under the financing pact, the state government would be required to provide N1bn, which would be matched in like sum by the bank for lending to entrepreneurs in the state, it was learnt.

He said the need to enter into the pact was born out of the conviction that the MSMEs would play a major role in economic development of any country.

The governor said since the MSMEs were the engine of growth in an economy, any fund attracted to the sector would promote industrialisation and job creation.

He said, “We are looking for empowerment and some will go into poultry, rice production, cassava production, maize production and small manufacturing.

The BoI boss said the bank would work with the state government in providing the needed capacity building for the MSMEs so that they could effectively utilise the fund.

The Bank of Industry (BoI) has pledged more funding support to industrialists in Edo State to enable them to create value for their agricultural produce.

Managing Director of the bank, Mr Olukayode Pitan gave the assurance during a meeting with the Edo Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki at the Government House, Benin City.

The visit was part of the familiarisation tours of the newly appointed MD of states where the bank is having a subsisting partnership on small medium enterprises development.

He expressed the readiness of the bank to provide funding support to industrialists in the state who are operating in the key areas of production activities already mapped out by the state government.

Pitan noted that plans were underway to raise about N1trillion from both local and foreign development partners, stressing that the strong balance sheet would help boost its loan reach in the state.

He said,”Edo State is one of the states where we have an existing relationship on SMEs development. The banks have supported a number of projects in the state and still committed to granting loans to genuine entrepreneurs.

“To enable the bank to extend its loan reach to the  teeming customers across the nation, plans are underway to raise between N500billion to N1trillion from both local and foreign development partners.”

Speaking earlier, the governor, Godwin Obaseki acknowledged the various impacts of the bank on business activities in the state but challenged it to extend loans to large business operators.

He said if the large business had access to finance, it would rob on the production activities of small business owners.

The governor said his government had identified key investment opportunity areas that would require strong financial back up from the bank.

According to him, the key areas include, agro-processing, mining, real estate, industrial clusters, water and electricity.

He noted that BoI has a unique role to play in the realisation of the state’s vision of becoming the industrial hub of the South-South through the development of industrial clusters and free trade zones.

Meanwhile, as part of the activities for the one-day working visit to the state, the BoI boss visited some of the bank’s supported projects in the state.

Some of the companies visited include, Happiness Foam Industry Nigeria Limited, Benco Aluminium Steel Products Limited, makers of aluminium roofing sheets and stone coated metro tiles and Lit Foods Nigeria Limited, producer of wheat coated peanuts and chin-chin.

Briefing the BoI management team led by the MD, the Executive Director Operations of Lit Foods, Mr Ijomoni Oghenekeuwe said the loan support the company received from the bank helped in the expansion of its production lines.

As a result of the purchase of more machinery which in turn helped in boosting production, Oghenekeuwe said the company was able to increase its employees from 320 to 500.

Also speaking, the Managing Director, Happiness Foam, Mr Kelvin Izuchukwu also praised the management of the bank for the loan facility, stressing that with the loan, the company had been able to increase its operations and employ more staff.

Ends

The Bank of Industry (Bol) and the Benue State government have launched a N2billion Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) development fund to boost the entrepreneurial potentials of citizens in the state.

Under the financing model, both parties will contribute N1billion each for on lending to mainly businesses that have high employment generating potentials and value addition to local raw materials.

Benue State Governor, Dr. Samuel Ortom expressed satisfaction over the initiative and commended the leadership of the bank under the acting Managing Director/Chief Executive, Mr. Waheed Olagunju for his foresight and remarkable strides since assuming office.

He urged President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint the acting BoI boss as substantive MD, noting that having worked in the bank for over two decades, he is more than qualified to lead the develop finance institution.

Nevertheless, Ortom appealed to entrepreneurs in the state to take advantage of the loan facilities, insisting that it would not be disbursed along party lines.

He said only those who have viable business proposals in the areas where the state currently has a comparative advantage would be given the financing support.

Meanwhile, Olagunju said the intention in the state brought the volume of MSME Funds being managed on behalf of 21 state governments to N18.3 billion.

Four out of the 21 states that had enrolled in the scheme, joined in the last eight months when the MD took over the office.

He added that the fund would help entrepreneurs in the state add values to their agricultural produce and boost employment generation potentials.

He urged the governor to create industrial parks where beneficiaries of the loans would be able to leverage on infrastructure facilities to reduce operation cost.

According to him, “I suggest the governor establish industrial parks, at least, one in each senatorial district where amenities will be provided and where other infrastructure will be provided. They will share the facilities.”

The Bank of Industry (BoI), in collaboration with the Kaduna State government and Kaduna Business School, have developed a business development programme aimed at training 4,500 business operators in the state.

Tagged: “Kaduna Startup Entrepreneurship Program,”(KADSTEP), the programme is tailored towards improving the capacity of some select small and medium business operators in the state who-who have been penciled to benefit from the various loan programmes of the BoI.

Under the KADSTED programme, successful small business operators would be leveraging on the existing N1billion matching fund.

Acting Managing director of BoI, Mr. Waheed Olagunju, speaking during the signing of the deal, said the entrepreneurship programme would help to rev up economic activities in the state through the creation of job opportunities.

“The Kaduna Startup Entrepreneurship Programme (KADSTEP),” is a sustainable job creation initiative designed with entrepreneurship as the common denominator. The programme is designed to run for 4 years in the first instance and the overreaching goal is the creation of a minimum 20,000 jobs in the intervention period through the registration and expansion of the capacities of about 3,500-4,500 businesses operating across the 23 local government in the state,” he said.

According to Olagunju, the programme was targeting the creation of 3,500 new businesses across the 23 local governments in the state,this is also in addition to building capacity for entrepreneurial management among the youth, 100 percent utilization of funds with the BoI, Bank of Agriculture,(BoA), Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN), creation of a minimum of 20,000 jobs and improving the internally generated in the state.

Executive governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-rufai,said that his government decided to go into partnership with the development finance institution because of his firm conviction that the purpose of government is to create an enabling environment suitable for job creation.

Having met its risk acceptance criteria for their proposed businesses, the Bank of Industry (BoI) has disbursed N48.44million loan to beneficiaries of the Kaduna Start up Entrepreneurship Programme.

According to the bank, apart from benefiting from other loan windows of the bank, under the KADSTEP, successful small business operators would also have opportunities to leverage on existing N1bn matching fund.

While 25 budding entrepreneurs enlisted in the programme, which comprised two months intensive entrepreneurial training, and one-month practical session in business plans development, only 15 graduates got loan cheques ranging from N2million to N5million.

KADSTED was designed by the Kaduna State Government in conjunction with the Kaduna Business School and the development finance institution to empower aspiring entrepreneurs to be able to access various intervention funds available to support Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the state.

Speaking while presenting cheques to the beneficiaries of the programme in Kaduna, the BoI Acting Managing Director, Waheed Olagunju in a statement said that those whose loans were approved were the candidates that met the bank’s Risk Acceptance Criteria(RAC).

He, however, noted that the bank and KBS are working with the other 10 in a hand- holding manner and guiding them towards also meeting the laid down RAC.

According to him, the bank is putting up the measures to increase the success rate of KADSTEP graduates with a view to reducing the mortality rate of small businesses.

“We are optimistic that most of them will eventually scale through and encourage others to complete their applications in good time so that they could also become beneficiaries,” he promised.

While recommending the KADSTEP model to other states of the federation, Olagunju restated the bank’s commitment to continue to provide financial support to existing and start-up businesses across the nation.

The managed funds under the portfolio of the Bank of Industry (BOI) has hit N44.6 billion as at the end of 2015 financial year. The funds have however risen above the figure considering various Memoranda of Understanding sealed with its stakeholders since the beginning of 2016.

Some of the funds managed by the Bank as at December 31, 2015 include the N8.12 billion National Automotive Council Fund, N2.9 billion Dangote Fund, N12.3 billion Rice Processing Fund, N12.5 billion Cement Fund, N1.8 billion National Sugar Industrial Development Fund, N1.48 billion Federal Department of Agriculture (FDA) Cottage Fund as well as other funds managed in partnership with other state governments.

Ag. MD/CEO, Mr. Waheed Olagunju stated that as part of measures to rev up its operations, the bank is strengthening its collaboration with its foreign and domestic partners including community-based organizations to deepen the bank’s credit delivery process and financial inclusion initiatives. According to him, the bank is on course in 2016 to surpassing the N83.5 billion that was disbursed in 2015.

Already, the Bank has disbursed N95 billion to 400 enterprises in the first half of 2016.Besides, a breakdown of the bank’s earnings for the year showed that the Bank recorded a profit after tax of N47 billion for the year ended December 31, 2015, representing an operating profit of N11.9 billion up by 100 per cent from N6 billion achieved in 2014 and an exceptional income from the gain on sale of some equity securities of WAMCO shares.

“As at the middle of the current year the bank had approved loans totaling N95 billion to more than 400 enterprises and is working assiduously to approving more loans in the second half of 2016 and ultimately meeting the institution’s disbarment target of N212 billion that could potentially lead to the creation of almost 1 million jobs in addition to the 1.6 million projected under the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme”, he said.