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Most times, people apply for a loan and ask for the date of repayment without understudying the interest rate.

It is very very important to know how to calculate loan interest: 1) to know if it worth it, 2) if the loan would return more profit on investment to cater for the interest rate.

In this post, we’ll show to calculate how much you’d be paying “on top” of your loan whether it’s personal or to boost your business.

Concept of loan:

A loan is the amount of money taken by an individual or organisation to support a business or for personal use on the condition that it will be repaid on a specific date with or without interest.

Types:

• Interest loan
• Interest-free loan (non-interest)

Interest loan

You agree to pay a certain charge rate. This is common to financial institutions and money lenders.

They make a profit from the interest rate charged on the loan you take. This could come as either secured or unsecured loan. You are the debtor.

Interest-free loan

Interest-free loans are hard to come by. Governments that want to support SME usually make provision for interest-free to boost small businesses.

When it’s interest-free, it means you only pay the principal (that is the amount borrowed) without additional charges.

This kind of loan isn’t to make a profit-making venture for the lender, but to support the borrower.
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The Federal Government’s Survival Fund is truly the first fairest funding and grants ever in the history of Nigeria.

After meeting all other requirements of the survival fund payroll, employers (CEO) and employees will have to answer some questions before their accounts are credited by the Central Bank.

We’ll share with you some of the questions disbursement committee of the survival fund will ask you either as an employer or an employee before your account is credited.

READ ALSO: #IGotSurvivalFund: Survival Fund Beneficiaries Shared Testimonies

Apart from is one of the KYC measures, it is to also ensure that the right people who really need the support are getting funded.

Objective of payroll support  

The grant is one of the plans of the Economic Sustainability Plan, which is providing financial supporting for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and other businesses that have been hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some of the programmes under the survival fund include Payroll Support, Guaranteed Offtake and MSME Grant

The most popular among the programmes right now is the payroll, which is a grant to support vulnerable micro and small enterprises in meeting their payroll obligations in order to safeguard jobs within the MSME space from the shock of the Covid-19

READ ALSO: 150,000 Free Business Name Registration Slots Still Available – FG
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I applied for the SME loan on NIRSAL Micro Finance Bank (NMFB) portal in 2020, a few weeks after, all I needed was to head back to the portal to check if my application was successful.

Unfortunately, hundreds of the CBN COVID-19 loan applicants don’t know that applying isn’t enough, but constant check on the status of your loan is very important. So that you don’t miss out!

If you applied and don’t know the next step to take, we’ll show you how to check if your loan has been approved by NMFB or not.

Application has closed now, but some of our readers would not stop asking for the application links for NIRSAL MFB loan.

But before that, it’s pertinent to point out that two sets of COVID-19 support applicants can easily check their loan application status on the official portal.

They are:

1. Small Medium Enterprises (SME)
2. Household

These people are the Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) COVID-19 and there is a Beneficiary Information Management System(BIMS) where all applications go to immediately you click SUBMIT button during an application.

Targeted Credit Facility for COVID-19

Household and SME loans are part of the funding initiative of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to cushion the effect of coronavirus pandemic.

There is also the Agric-Business Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme, also known as AGSMEIS loan.

The stimulus package is meant to support households and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) who are greatly affected by the pandemic, which ravaged the entire world.

Nigeria isn’t alone!

As such the apex bank introduced the N50 billion Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) as a financial booster to families, businesses affected by the pandemic.

Under the COVID-19, you could access up to N25 Million. The amount you can receive ranges between 250,000 to N25 million.

So, your problem isn’t about the application but how to check if you will receive the CBN COVID-19 stimulus package, right?

Here is it….

How to check if your COVID-19 loan application is successful

Step 1: Head straight to Nirsal Microfinance bank official portal

Step 2: On top right-hand corner, click on COVID-19 support link

Step 3: Tap on “Click Here to Provide Other Bank Account” which takes you to 1) SME, 2) Household

Step 4: if you applied for the Household category, tap on that option

Step 5: Input your 11-digit BVN to check if you will receive the stimulus package and hit validate BVN.

If your application was successful if takes you to the next page on what to do. Like the amount approved for you and agree by the terms and conditions if you want to take the loan and fill in your bank details.

That’s all.

Some of the applicants who were successful revealed to us that they didn’t check with their BVN on NIRSAL National Microfinance bank portal. Rather, they received a confirmation SMS from NMFB. E.g
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Another funding is here for farmers. If you haven’t heard about it, it’s called Smallholder Economic Interest Farmers Agricultural Cooperative or SEIFAC.

SEIFAC is one of the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) rolled out by the Central Bank of Nigeria in a bid to support local farmers with funds so as to boost local production of what we consume.

In one of our publications, we highlighted the key requirements for you to enrol for the anchor’s programme.

How SEIFAC-CBN Loan works read more

We all need money to meet certain financial obligations. Loans come in handy when there is no alternative.

In this post, we’ll share with you types of loans offered by Nigerians banks which are accessible to everyone who can abide by their terms and conditions.

But in case you don’t know, every Nigerian bank has a loan to meet your demand. The fact is that some of them have friendlier SMEs loans and agrofinance loans to support the agricultural sector.

What should you consider before taking a loan? And which financial institution supports the kind of loan that would meet your need?

The list of loans below fall into either secured or unsecured loans. We already discussed the difference between the two major types of loans in one of our previous publications.

List Of Nigerian Banks Where You Get Loan

At the time of publication, there are 22 banks in Nigeria recognised and certified by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

All the banks offered different loans. Here are the banks where you can obtain loan in Nigeria:

1. Access bank
2. Citibank Nigeria Limited
3. Ecobank Nigeria Plc
4. Fidelity Bank Plc
5. First Bank of Nigeria Ltd
6. First City Monument Bank Plc
7. Globus Bank Limited
8. Guaranty Trust bank Plc
9. Heritage banking Company
10. Keystone Bank
11. Polaris Bank
12. Providus Bank
13. Stanbic IBTC bank Ltd
14. Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Ltd
15. Sterling Bank Plc
16. SunTrust Bank Nigeria Ltd
17. Titan trust bank Ltd
18. Union Bank of Nigeria
19. United Bank for Africa
20. Unity bank Plc
21. Wema bank Plc
22. Zenith Bank Plc

Three of the banks listed above are not as popular as others, but you would be surprised that they offered great loans that could meet your purpose.

We’ll take them one after the other and show you the type of loan they offer.

Types of loans offered by Access Bank Plc

With more acquisitions in the banking industry, Access Bank is one of the strongest financial institutions in Nigeria.

Here are the follows you can get at Access Bank:

• Personal loan
• Creative Sector loan
• Lending against turnover
• WPower loan
• Vehicle Finance
• Salary advance
• Small ticket personal loan
• Advance for school fees
• Device finance
• Maternal Health Service Support
• Payday loan

Available loans in Citibank Nigeria Ltd

Business loan

Citi Bank is a multinational financial institution with branches in Europe, Middle East, and Africa, including Nigeria.

To access business loan at citi, your business must be registered and must be ready to provide the require documents.

Types of loans offered by EcoBank Nigeria Plc

At Ecobank, you can apply and get the following loans:

• Auto
• Personal loan/Asset acquisition
• Advance Facility
• Mortgage loan
• Travel loan
• Salary advance
• Cash backed loan

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We received an email a few hours ago from one of the subscribers expressing his concern over one of the government loans he applied for. He was unlucky.

He was more worried because some of his colleagues he assisted in the loan application were successful.

Their NMFB accounts have been credited. They are now one of the hundreds of CBN loan beneficiaries in Nigeria.

If you fall into the category of Hazeem (not real name) who applied but got no response from Nirsal Microfinance bank, don’t give up.

In this post, we’ll share with you other funding opportunities you can apply in, most especially if you manage agro-business and some of the questions you need to ask yourself why your loan was not successful.

6 questions to ask yourself

In reviewing why your application was not successful, you need to ask yourself these important questions:

1) Ask yourself: Is it a loan that requires business registration (CAC) and other documentation?

2) Did I show evidence of tax payment if it’s funding that requires you to show your TIN?

3) Did I enrol and have the Entrepreneurial Development Institute (EDI) certificate if it’s CBN-backed funding?

4) Did I get SMEDAN registration number? It’s FREE, you can check our guide on how to get SMEDAN registration number.

5) Is it geopolitical-based funding? If government funding is geopolitically based, then you have to wait for the turn of your zone.

6) Did I check my loan application status for the next step before the expiration of the application?

If you have adequately sort what the issues are, you can proceed to explore other loan opportunities available.

Here are some of them:

1. CIFI
2. SEIFAC
3. AGSMEIS
4. MSME
5. ADDS
6. NYIF Survival Fund
7. NEXIT-CBN Loan

MSME

Are you operating micro, small and medium enterprises? If yes, then the MSME loan is there for you to apply.

You can apply for this opportunity either through the NMFB or through the Bank of Industry (BOI).

AGSMEIS

This is Agric-Business Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme aimed at supporting local production of what we consume in Nigeria. These Loans are provided by the CBN to support your agribusiness

SEIFAC

SEIFAC is one of the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) which means Smallholder Economic Interest Farmers Agricultural Cooperative.

You can also apply for SEIFAC project to gain access to government loans.

CIFI

You can also apply for the Creative Industry Financing Initiative loan. You can talk to NMFB, Access bank, GT bank, and other commercial banks that are participating in the loan disbursement.

NYIF Survival Fund

A few days ago, the Minister of Youth and Sports Sunday Dare said that close to N200,000,000 were disbursed to youth with brilliant business ideas.

If you applied for the Nigeria Youth Investment Fund (NYIF) but your application wasn’t successful, there is good news for you:

If you are not above 35 years, the minister made it known in one of his speeches that there are provisions for youth funds in the ministry 2021 budget.

This is significant. It means their lots to you can benefit from as we move fully into the year.

AADS

Another great initiative of the government you can apply for is the Accelerated Agriculture Development Scheme which is supported by Nigeria’s apex bank.

One of the core objectives of the AADS is to increase agricultural production towards food security, job creation and economic diversification

NEXIT-CBN Empowerment

If you are among the 500,000 exited beneficiaries, you stand a chance of benefiting from one of the options being looked into by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development.

The ministry said in 2020 that it would partner CBN. It has done so and hopes are high among exited volunteers that they would receive funding from the Federal Government.

Takeaways:

If your loan application isn’t successful, consider other funding opportunities around.

There are more than five government loans you can benefit from.

Don’t let one rejection deter you from taking your business to the next level

read more

I applied for one of the available COVID-19 loans of the Central Bank of Nigeria sometimes in 2020. To my surprise, my Nirsal Microfinance Bank (NMFB) account was credited.

It was elated because it would help me to expand my business. But never did I know I would face other rounds of the hurdle. But I later figured it out.

If you are one the applicants whose Nirsal account was credited but don’t really know how to transfer the money to your bank account number, go nowhere, we’ve got the solution.

One thing you have to get clear is this…NIRSAL is different from NMFB

How NIRSAL came about

NIrsal is a non-commercial bank. It’s owned by the Nigeria’s apex bank to provide loans for businesses.

It’s part of the Nigeria government’s policy to encourage local production of what we consume at home.

To do this, SME needs to be supported financially, those with business ideas with no funds need to get started. That’s why the CBN established the NIRSAL.

NIRSAL is Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL Plc.)

To make the disbursement of loans easier for the applicants, Nirsal Microfinance Bank or NMFB was founded.

The NMFB isn’t exclusively owned by NIRSAL. Here are the owners of the Nirsal microfinance bank

• Bankers Committee has 50%,
• NIRSAL 40%,
• Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST) has 10% shares.

That’s why you can easily find NMFB branch at any of the NIPOST offices in your state.

You can access any loan below N10,000,000 at the NMFB while anything above that would have to be directed to NIRSAL PLC.

If you receive agricultural loan, Micro loans, SME loan, and Asset financing or any kind of funds from the bank, follow the steps below to transfer your loan to GT Bank, Access Bank or other commercial banks, from where you can then make withdrawal.

If you receive funds in Nirsal account number which is not your commercial bank account number, here is how to go about it:

Step 1: Download NIRSAL MFB on Google Play Store

Step 2: Set up an account

Step 3: Visit NMFB branch closer to you to get an assigned default PIN to your NIRSAL account.

Step 4: Perform KYC (Know Your Customers) to secure your account. From here you can change your PIN.

Step 5: Access your NMFB and add your account number to transfer money to.

That’s all.

How to open Nirsal account number?

Follow the process above to set up a nirsal MFB account

What is the transfer code of Nirsal Microfinance bank?

At the time of publication, there is no known USSD code for transferring money from Nirsal MFB account to another account. We’ll update this post when the bank launches one.

It does not have a registered =&2=&. To access any of their services, simply log on to their homepage

How can I get back my Nirsal MFB account number?

Kindly visit the branch of the bank to resolve this issue.
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Do you know that there are several SMEs loans funded by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) you can apply for to boost your business?

We’ve got the full list here for you to pick the most suitable for your business and delve into how you can access them in our subsequent guideline.

Hundreds of Nigerian entrepreneurs think that the apex bank only plays a regulatory role, that’s not true.

Indeed, CBN is a major player in microfinancing and funding of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

Some of the businesses the apex bank is funding include:

• Agricultural business
• Information technology
• Healthcare research
• Movie production
• Music
• Software engineering
• Fashion etc

The good news is…

You can get as much as N500 million CBN loan to fund your business, depending on the size, profitability, feasibility, and well curated-business plan you set out.

Whichever CBN loans you are planning to access to boost your business, you must know that the apex bank does not credit your account directly. Loans are disbursed through banks and other financial institutions licensed by the CBN.

Little was heard about CBN loans until the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19). It became imperative for the apex bank to rescue businesses which had financial challenges as a result of the impact of the pandemic.

Here is the full list of CBN SME loans you can apply for:

1. ABP: Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP)
2. AGSMEIS: Agri-Business/Small and Medium Enterprise Investment Scheme
3. MSMEDF: Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund
4. CIFI: Creative Industry Financing Initiative
5. AADS: Accelerated Agricultural Development Scheme
6. HSRDIG: Healthcare Sector Research And Development Intervention Scheme

So, who and what kind of business can apply for any of these loans? Let’s take a look at how significant these loans are to small businesses in Nigeria.

Anchor Borrowers Programme Loan

Do you know that the ABP loan has been around for close to five years? Yes, the ABP loan was launched by President Muhammadu Buhari on November 17, 2015.

It’s designed to create a linkage between anchor companies involved in the processing and smallholder farmers (SHFs) of the required key agricultural commodities.

The mandate of the loan are:

1) Provision of farm inputs in kind and cash (for farm labour) to smallholder farmers to boost production of these commodities

2) To stabilize inputs supply to agro-processors

3) To address Nigeria’s negative balance of payments on food.

How does it work?

At harvest, the SHF supplies his/her produce to the Agro-processor (Anchor) who pays the cash equivalent to the farmer’s account.

Basically, it’s meant to reduce Nigeria’s reliance on food importation which gulped billions of naira every month.

Agri-Business/Small and Medium Enterprise Investment Scheme

The AGSMEIS is the most popular of all the CBN SME loans targeting the agricultural sector in Nigeria. It’s popular because of the sensitisation by the CBN and its partners.

It’s basically designed as a vehicle for sustainable economic development and generate employment among the teeming Nigerian youths.

Provided your business is registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), which is a prerequisite to access SME loan, and you’ve undergone training by entrepreneurship training centres recognised by the CBN and the Bank of Industry (BOI).

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund

One of the objectives of the MSMEDF loan is to enhance access by business owners to financial services, says the CBN when it was launched on August 15, 2013.

The reason for this loan was the fact that the apex bank recognised the enormous contribution of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sub-sector to Nigeria’s economy.

We’ll tell you more on what you need to do to access MSMEDF loan in our subsequent guide.
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You’ve heard about CBN’s CIFI loan and wondering how to access it? We’ve compiled here the Nigerians banks where you can easily submit your application to access the loan.

Purpose of the loan

It is an on-lending scheme designed by Nigeria’s apex bank in collaboration with the Bankers’ Committee. It’s designed to boost job creation in Nigeria. It’s among the six loans funded by the CBN.

They want to achieve this by providing loans at cheaper rates to the Fashion, Information Technology, Movie and Music sector.

A few months ago, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) released an application for creative minds, students and individuals on how to access funds for their creativity.

If you’re creative and have the requirements outlined by the apex bank, we’ll reveal to you some of the Nigerians banks where you can access the loan.

How does Creative Industry Financing Initiative Loan work?

According to CBN those who can benefit from the loan include:

• Fashion designers
• Information Technology expert
• Movie Producers
• Movie Distributors
• Musicians
• Music producers
• Software Engineering Student Loan

But before you can access CIFI loan, you must first prepare a business plan, a must for anyone who wants to access government loan in Nigeria and part of the world.

The business plan must contain how much you want for your business.

So you’ve been wondering how much you could get, right? Here is what’s in for each of the categories:

• Software Engineering Student can access up to N3 million
• Movie Production owners could get up to N30 million
• N500 million is available for Movie Distribution business

Why you should apply for this loan

• It is a low cost-single digit funding for your business
• It has a flexible structure and repayment plans
• It’s designed to enable you to achieve your long term business goals considering the tenor with a maximum tenor is 10 years.

Can wait to apply? You need to know the conditions for the funding.

Requirements

The eligibility requirements to access the loan are

• Business Plan (very important)
• 3 Years Financial Projections (in terms of profit)
• Must have a clean/satisfactory credit history.
• 3 years audited accounts for existing companies (new business is exempted from this)
• Economic benefits to Nigeria’s economy
• Statement of Affairs for start-ups and companies with less than 3 years of existence
• Copies of duly executed offer documents between the bank and loan applicants
• Certificate of Incorporation (CAC)
• Brief on Directors
• Tax Identification Number (TIN)
• Bank Verification Number (BVN)

Others include:

• Previous /Current Management Position
• Shareholding
• At least 2 Credit Reports for the company and each Director
• Proposed schedule of fund disbursement
• Proposed schedule of fund repayment (how do you plan to repay?)
• CBN Intervention(s) which the project is Currently Benefiting from
• Outstanding Amount(s) in respect of 12 above
• Minimum Equity Contribution-30% of total project cost
• Provide evidence of any of the following: Legal mortgage, All asset debenture or Personal Guarantee

NOTE:

The requirements vary. For instance, to access the Student Software Development Loan, some of the eligibility requirements you must fulfil include:

• University Degree,
• NYSC Certificate,
• Credible Guarantor,
• Personal Guarantee
• Must gain admission into a training organisation that has job placement contracts.
• No bad credit history with CRMS or any commercial bank in Nigeria bank
• Preference for areas with low IT penetration

It’s time to apply…

How to submit your application

Step 1: Prepare your business plan

Step 2: Go to any of the participating banks with the documents listed above

Step 3: Approach the Relationship Officer at the bank

Step 4: You’ll be contacted for further discussion

Participating banks

Usually, all Nigerians banks are supposed to participate, but we’ve discovered that the most active financial institutions that where you can apply for the Creative Industry Financing Initiative Loan are:

• NIRSAL (CBN owned bank)
• Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank)
• Access Bank
• Zenith Bank
• Polaris

Repayment Mode:

The maximum interest rate of 9% per annum (all charges inclusive) is applicable on all loans.

The repayment period is a maximum of:

a) 3 years for Software Engineering Student Loans

b) 10 years for Movie Production & Distribution, Fashion, Information Technology and Music

How to prepare a business plan for this loan read more