How Traders Can Get Loans Without Collateral Using ‘Trader Moni Initiative’

The federal government of Nigeria, has rolled out a new soft loan scheme aimed at funding micro businesses in the country. The scheme to be called Trader Moni is meant to help very small scale traders easily get loans without collateral in Nigeria for the purpose of expanding their small businesses.

The new initiative was launched under the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) in partnership with the Bank of Industry (BOI).

Unlike the existing Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) Market Moni loan scheme, which targets market women, traders, artisans and enterprising youths, the TraderMoni is a micro-credit scheme to cater for ultra-micro enterprises.

Speaking at the unveiling of ‘Trader Moni’ initiative at Ojuwoye market in Lagos, the Executive Director, Bank of Industry, Toyin Adeniji said that the programme which is activated nationwide will support 2 million Nigerians to grow their business by having access to loan in Nigeria irrespective of the status or level of education.

She disclosed that the goal of the scheme was to take financial inclusion down to the grass root whereby pure water seller, bread seller, food seller, okada rider among others can access loan without collateral in Nigeria to expand their business.

She stated: “This ‘Trader Moni’ initiative is a mobile phone driven, after your details have been captured by agent and send to BoI system for validation, within 48 hours you will get cash notification in your mobile wallet account. You can either transfer the cash to your bank account or cash it out in any mobile money agent around.

“At the beginning you can access N10,000 and pay back N10,250 to qualify for N15,000. Once you payback N15,375 you will qualify for N20,000 loan, when you pay back N21,000 you will get N50,000. All these stages have duration of six months interval to pay back.”

The bank’s chief stated that BoI was in partnership with other banks such as Fidelity Bank, Wema Bank, GTBank, UBA, Heritage Bank, Stanbic Bank, Sterling Bank, Union Bank and Jaiz Bank to make paying back the loans easier. The trader just needs to visit any of the banks or key in with a BoI-GEEP agent to pay direct. Repayments can be made to BOI-GEEP loan account under PayDirect at banks.

Chief Operating Officer of GEEP, Mr. Uzoma Nwagba, said there are other products such as the ‘Farmers Moni’, which provides farmers the opportunity to access loans up to N300,000. Also, there is ‘Market Moni’, which issues interest-free loans between N50,000 and N100,000 to market women, traders and artisans that are a bit bigger and more structured. These products are available nationwide. He urged beneficiaries to do their best to pay back the loans so that others can get the opportunity to benefit from the programme.

NB : If you fail to repay the loan, your beneficiary’s Bank Verification Number (BVN) might be blocked.

You can check out more info via BOI Trader Moni website: Tradermoni.com.ng