How to Access Up to N10m Agri-Business Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS)

Agri-Business Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS) is an initiative of the Bankers’ Committee in a bid to support and complement the Federal Governments’ efforts at promoting Agri-businesses/Small and Medium Enterprises as a vehicle for sustainable economic development and employment generation.

This initiative requires all Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) to set aside 5% of their annual profit after tax (PAT) and as at Dec. 2017, about N26bn has been accrued from all DMBs for the scheme.

The fund is domiciled with Central Bank of Nigeria and below are some the banks contributions in 2017.

GTBank with second highest profit in 2017 after Zenith Bank contributed N6.3 billion out of N170.5 billion profit after tax reported in 2017.

Zenith Bank with N177.9 billion profit in 2017 deposited N5.69 billion for the investment in AGSMEIS while Access Bank contributed N3.2 billion out of N61.99 billion profit reported in 2017.

Sterling bank, with N8.5 billion profit in 2017 contributed N259 million to the AGSMEIS.

Diamond Bank contributing N141m to the pool.

This fund is expected to increase to about N60bn by June 2018, following remittance of DMBs 2017 5% PAT to the pool.

The scheme is divided into three (3) broad categories;

1. Developmental Component – to be utilised to administer the program by CBN
2. Indirect Component – to be disbursed either as equity through fund managers
3. Direct Component – to be disbursed as debt to customers through DMBs

The Developmental Component constitutes 5% of the fund. CBN will apply this fund for capacity building, technical assistance to MSMEs and cover operational costs of managing the scheme.

The Indirect Component constitutes 45% of the fund. This fund is to be applied as equity and shall be managed by Fund Managers.  Applications are submitted through PFIs to Project Monitoring Committee (PMC), who recommends request for further approval by the appointed Board of Trustees (BoT). Upon approval by BoT, CBN disburses fund as applicable. PFI’s do not directly benefit from the scheme (except in terms of float, where applicable) and there is no risk to bear as fund is managed by Fund Managers.

The Direct Component constitutes 50% of the fund and this is to be disbursed as loans to eligible MSMEs through Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs). CBN has commenced disbursement under this component, with the flag off ceremony which held in Abuja on 12^th April 2018.

AGSMEIS is sector agnostic and the fund can be accessed for start-up businesses, business expansion or revival of ailing companies in sectors such as;

• Agricultural Sector; covering agricultural value chain activities such as production, inputs supply, storage, processing, logistics and marketing.
• Real Sector; including manufacturing, mining and petrochemicals.
• Service Sector; including Information and Communication Technology (ICT), beauty and the creative industry.
• Other activities as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) may determine from time to time

APPLICATION PROCESS

Applicants are expected to be trained and certified by any of the CBN approved Entrepreneurial Development Centres e.g. Lagos Business School, House of Tara, Fate Foundation, Thrive Agric etc to access the loan.

To take advantage of this loan, visit any branch of your bank or contact your bank contact centre.

For Sterling Bank, visit here to read about the online application process

Diamond Bank, Visit here to read about their process

The beneficiary is approved by CBN. Once you apply through your bank, you need to be trained by any of the aforementioned institutes and after that, you will be able to submit a business plan to your bank and your bank will forward it to CBN for approval and the fund will be disbursed by your bank.

 

Kindly note that the fund disbursement has started, the disbursements of the funds began in Abuja. The flag off saw the disbursement of about N118 million to 358 beneficiaries under the scheme which seeks to reasonably cut the present high unemployment rates in the country.

 

You can download the guideline from CBN here

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