Jaiz Bank Plc and Islamic Corporation for the Development of Private Sector (ICD), the development arm of Islamic Development Bank (IDB),yesterday signed a $20 million line of agreement to finance Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the country.
The line of financing would cover sectors such as industry, communications, technology, health, manufacturing, agriculture among others.
Managing Director/CEO of Jaiz, Hassan Usman signed on behalf of the Bank, while the Regional Office Director of ICD, Mr. Okan Altasil signed for the Corporation.
The Jaiz’s MD who was delighted over the agreement promised to judiciously use the facility to promote financial inclusion and development of the grassroots.
He said: “We would ethically deploy the funds to develop SMEs which is our focus area. We are going to use it to finance the retail end of the economy with the hope of bringing financing to those financially excluded, in line with our mission of making life better for people through ethical financing.”
The ICD management said the reason for extending such financing to some Nigerian Banks was because SMEs have crucial role to play in a country’s growth and development and “ICD has big plans for them.”
It said: “This is an important niche in all the member countries, especially in Africa. ICD is now focusing on increasing access to funding to the private sector by channeling the funds to established financial institution in its member countries.”
The ICD had previously extended a total of $120 million Line of Financing facility for the development of SMEs in Nigeria.
