The Kwara Government on Monday commenced the enumeration of 3,000 business owners in the first batch of operational cost grants under the Kwara COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (CARES) programme.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the state government is collaborating with the World Bank and Bank of Industry for the programme.
According to the Disbursement Indicator, Omotunde Jegede, the programme was designed to cushion the effects of COVID-19, improve the state of MSMEs to boost local economy and increase employment rate in Kwara.
“We have different categories of grants under the first phase. The categories include rent, security and utility.
“The grants will range between N200,000 and N700,000, depending on the number of business owner’s employees.
“4,225 successful applicants underwent the vetting process for disbursement linked indicator, DLI 3.2,” Jegede said.
He announced that over 20,000 applicants from across the 16 local governments had applied through a hybrid of online and offline registration processes at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Technology, and the state Social Investment Programmes office.
“Following the registration, which was open to all small business owners in Kwara state, over 4,000 successful applicants for the operational cost grants (also known as disbursement linked indicator 3.2) were contacted by the Bank of Industry who are the implementing partners to fill a vetting form requesting for further information on their businesses,” he added.
He said that the programme would kick off disbursement with the operational cost grants also known as DLI 3.2, followed by the credit grant and IT enhancement grant.
“The programme is focused on improving the employment rate and ease of running businesses in the state,” he added.
After his enumeration, Mr Afolabi Olanrewaju hailed the state government for the gesture.
Olanrewaju, a furniture maker, said that “if at the end of the day the grants are given, it means that the current government is out to alleviate poverty in the lives of the people”.
He said he would use the fund to expand his business. (NAN)
