Irrespective of your political affiliation, the Bank of Industry loan is opened for everyone. No discrimination. Provided you fulfilled the eligibility requirements.
We’ll share with you some of the things you need to put in place before applying for BOI loan.
Ownership:
Bank of Industry is the oldest and largest Development Financial Institution owned by the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Ministry of Finance.
Below are the key things you need to know before submitting your loan application on BOI portal
- Who can apply
- What can be financed
- Mode of disbursement
- The amount that can be financed
- Collateral
- Bank Guarantee
- Track record
- Required documents
- Evidence of business registration
- Products
Who can apply
It is very important to know that BOI doesn’t finance individual loan applications, that isn’t its mandate.
The mandate of the bank is to finance enterprises or companies that duly registered and have a physical address.
The bank has a way of verifying the authenticity of your business registration, as such you are required to provide the registration number for a Limited Liability Company or business name for an enterprise before you can proceed with your application.
Collateral requirements
The fact that you can submit an online application doesn’t mean your application won’t be scrutinized.
You WILL have to pledge some assets to secure BOI loan or other forms of security subject to adequate coverage of the loan being provided to you.
The following are also accepted as collateral to access the bank’s loan:
- Legal mortgage on a landed property which must be duly registered with a Certificate of Occupancy
- Debenture on assets of the company
- Bank Guarantee
- External Guarantors with Notarized statement of Networth for loans below N10 million.
What can be financed
You have a nice business idea or your business is already established and making significant progress in profit?
While you might be excited about the progress you’ve made so fat, you must also know that the bank is principally set up to finance industrial equipment used in manufacturing.
BOI loan isn’t meant to finance land and building
Mode of disbursement
The bank doesn’t directly fund your account number. It funds the account of your vendors and suppliers of the equipment that the loan application is for.
This is because the loan is designed to help grow the industry in Nigeria so as to create employment opportunities.
The amount that can be financed
BOI’s loan funding to the SME starts from N5 million. Anything below N5 million is provided on the matching fund platform.
The matching fund is operated in collaboration with various state governments and on BOI Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) scheme which is operated through MicroFinance Banks.
Track record
BOI doesn’t provide a loan to a business that just started operation UNLESS you can convince the bank that you have the required experience with a board that is successful in their chosen field.
Your company must be able to provide evidence of at least three years of successful operation.
Required documents
To access BOI loan, you need to support your application with some documents which will be uploaded on the application portal.
These include:
- Means of identity
- CAC registration number
- Evidence of tax remittance
- Bank statements etc
Evidence of business registration
If you are serious about accessing government or CBN or banking loan, one of the things you need to get done is to register your business with the Corporate Affairs Commission, a government agency saddled with the responsibility of registering businesses in Nigeria.
We’ve written extensively on how to register your business on CAC online portal or by visiting one of its branches closer to you.
Products:
Bank of Industry finances more than 20 products or industries. If your business falls into one of the following categories, then you can commence your application today
They are:
- Doors and Window Frames
- Cosmetics/Hair Products
- Dairy
- Digital Printing/Multimedia Publishing
- Furniture/Wood Processing
- Gemstones
- Greenhouses
- E-Commerce/Information & Communications Technology (ICT)
- Fashion/Garmenting
- Adire (Tie and Dye)/Aso Oke
- Animal Feeds
- Aquaculture
- Bakery
- Food Processing (comprising processing of agricultural products)
- Foundries/Metal Fabrication/3-D Printing
- Fruit Juice
- Meat Processing
- Mechatronics
- Health Care (Medical Diagnostics)
- Blocks and Interlocking Stones
- Bottled Water
- Ceramics & Tiles
- Chemicals and Paints
- Laundry and Dry Cleaning etc
Key take away:
- The bank of industry focuses on providing funding for manufacturing firms and processing activities.
- The bank doesn’t grant a loan to a business that is not legally registered
- It doesn’t provide loan to companies that don’t pay tax