Do you know that there are up to six loans under the CBN intervention fund for SME Businesses and Agriculture?
To apply for any of the loans, you need training certificate from CBN accredited Entrepreneurship Development Centres or Institute. One of such is Agric-Business Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme, also known as AGSMEIS loan.
In this post, we’ll tell you the roles of EDC or Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) and the required documents you need to get approval for EDC.
Functions of Entrepreneurship Development Centres To SMEs
1) They convert a business idea into a successful business.
2) EDCs plan, implement and see to the execution of a business plan.
3) They act as a mentoring body for Small and Medium Entrepreneurs
4) They help business starter or entrepreneurs create successful business entities out of the excellent ideas.
5) The Entrepreneurship Development Centre also develop the confidence, capacity and knowledge among the entrepreneurs by organizing seminars, workshops, conferences and bringing out various publications on entrepreneurial matters.
6) Assimilating information on all matters related to entrepreneurial development
7) Maintaining close liaison with CBN loan applicants
8) They help loan applicants in designing innovative types of training programmes
9) Finally, Entrepreneurship Development Centres provide the required inputs from a Banker’s perspective to assist the CBN loan applicants to be successful in their businesses.
Benefits of being an Entrepreneurship Development Centres
The application and approval process for an EDC may be tedious because the Central Bank of Nigeria tries as much as it could to ensure such centres are not managed by crooked.
But the benefits are enormous. For instance, thousands of young entrepreneurs submit applications for CBN loan every month or year, they all pay fro premium training at EDI I closer to them.
The cost of training at EDC is N10, 000 per head at the time of this publication. With the thousands of loan applicants, a centre that has just 1000 trainees per sect could make at least N10, 000,000 within a couple of days.
Training centres also have first-hand information to CBN loans and other funding opportunities for small businesses in Nigeria.
NOTE:
Don’t just look at the financial gains. There are also some challenges inherent in running an EDC training centre.
How to get approval for an EDC training Centre (In Nigeria)
To be eligible for the EDI training centre, you need to fulfil the following criteria:
1) Evidence of registration with Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) or Be a Public-Sector Institution.
2) Must have at least 2 years audited financial records
3) Provide evidence of tax payments
4) You training centre must have been in existence for a minimum of three years and must be able to provide evidence of past trainees.
5) Must have qualified faculty in the functional areas listed on the attached.
6) Availability of at least 5 workshops and 5 classrooms well equipped for training.
7) Ability to provide training modules with a robust curriculum which should include vocational, skill acquisition and entrepreneurship training.
8) Must be able to demonstrate with proof, a track record of mentoring and training Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
8) Provide Bank Verification Number (BVN) and Tax Identification Number of the Entrepreneurship Development Centre (EDC) and its promoters.
9) Provide a minimum of 3 months training for start-up businesses in the identified functional areas
Functional Training Areas For EDC Under AGSMEIS
- Agriculture & Agro-allied Processing
- Catering & Event Management
- Courier & Delivery Services
- Art &Entertainment
- Creative Industry
- Apparels and Textiles
- ICT
- Cottage Industry
- Media
- Publishing
- Cosmetics, Beauty and Makeup Artistry
- Electrical and Electronics
- POP and Tiling
- Health Services
- Welding and fabrication
- Animal Husbandry
- Hospitality
- Fashion and Dressmaking
- Telecommunications
- Automobile Services
- Carpentry
- Masonry
- Kerbs and Electric Pole making
- General Management( applies to all disciplines )
Final thought:
We believe that if you get all the aforementioned documents ready, getting approval for your Entrepreneurship Development training would not only be fast, you’d also be listed on the list of accredited EDC in Nigeria.
