The Bank of Industry, one of Africa’s most active development banks, has continued to impact the Nigerian manufacturing sector positively through efficient single-digit funding. Companies that have so far benefitted from the bank’s loans include Emzor Pharmaceuticals Limited, Nestle Nigeria plc, Peugeot Automotive Nigeria Limited, Innoson Technical & Industrial Company Limited, Eastern Metals Limited, UNTL plc, Honeywell Flour Mills, KAM Industries, Lafarge Cement Wapco plc and Dangote Cement. Others are Rumbu Sacks Nigeria Limited, BAGCO, Tara Agro Industries, ANAMCO, Bendel Feed & Flour Mill, Onward Paper Mills Limited, Ladol Integrated Logistics, Intercontinental Distillers Ltd, Tempo Starch & Glucose Ltd, Coleman Technical Industries Limited, Seven-Up Bottling Co. plc and Flour Mills of Nig plc, among many others, Rasheed Olaoluwa, managing director/CEO, BoI, disclosed during the bank’s interactive session with journalists recently in Lagos.
Other firms such as Notore Chemical Industries Limited, May & Baker Nigeria plc, First Aluminum Nigeria Limited, Nigeria-German Chemicals plc and Nexans Kabelmetal Nigeria plc, among others, have also received loan support from the bank. According to the Managing Director, BoI disbursed N127 billion to micro, small, medium and large enterprises in 2014, a feat that brought the bank’s cumulative disbursement to N781 billion. He said there has been a rapid growth in loan disbursement since 2009. “We are restructuring and repositioning our subsidiaries to increase their effectiveness in supporting BoI’s mandate,” he said. “Overall, we remain committed to the pursuit of our core mandate of providing long-term financial support to small, medium and large companies/projects in Nigeria’s key sectors. And we have adopted/are adopting global best practices in all aspects of operations,” he stressed. In recognition of the above achievements, he said, Agusto & Co recently accorded the bank with the first domestic credit rating of A-, making BoI the only Nigerian development bank to be so rated.