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Bank of Industry, others move for healthier SMEs

By Olaoluwa Ogungbe
28 September 2017   |   4:18 am
The Bank of Industry (BoI), Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), commercial banks and other financial institutions, yesterday at the Funding Space 2017 business gathering proffered solutions towards financing businesses and organisations.

Managing Director, Bank of Industry (BoI), Mr. Olukayode Pitan

The Bank of Industry (BoI), Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), commercial banks and other financial institutions, yesterday at the Funding Space 2017 business gathering proffered solutions towards financing businesses and organisations.

The event, which took place at the Landmark Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, had in attendance business tycoons, entrepreneurs and hosts of financial institutions.

Chairman, Funding Space 2017 and the co-founder, African Women’s Development Fund, Dr. Erelu Bisi Fayemi, described the gathering as a platform for innovators, investors, donors and other financial organisations to engage one another to not only provide solutions to the problems of funding but to also decipher initiatives towards propelling small scale ventures in the country.

Also, Managing Director and the CEO of BoI, Mr. Olukayode Pitan, who encouraged upcoming business outfits to get adequate funding from the bank, said: “Provided you have your genuine proposals, necessary equities and required documents, you can always apply for loans from the BoI.”

Pitan, who however downplayed the intuition that BoI is a charity organisation for all and sundry to just have the “share of the national cake,” stressed that for BoI to help businesses grow, the organisation must be alive by taking deposits and regulating helps given to different enterprises.

Also, Liberian peace activist and a Nobel laureate, Mrs. Leymah Gbowee, in her address, urged the youths to break out of their shells and start formidable business enterprises to compete among their counterparts in other countries of the world.

Gbowee, who canvassed a change in the orientation of women in Africa towards owning and controlling business outfits in the country, challenged the women and youths of Nigeria to show formidable vigour in affecting the continent positively.

The event, which continues today, is on course for providing a platform for meeting investors and donors, financing agriculture outfits, creative industry, promoting SMEs, youths and women, and creating jobs.

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