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Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Mrs Mariam Katagum, has said that the Federal Government has so far received 38,000 applications for the N75 billion Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Survival Fund. Katagum made this known in her opening remarks at a Business Advocacy Roundtable webinar by the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) on Tuesday.
According to her, the applications were coming in barely twenty four hours after the registration portal for the Fund was opened.
At the webinar themed: “Economic Recovery beyond COVID-19”, the minister explained that the N75 billion Survival Fund would serve 1.7 million beneficiaries across the country.
Katagum said the MSME survival funds with payroll support scheme for different sectors would start with educational institutions, followed by businesses in the hospitality industry and then small businesses. She said that Kano had the highest number of applicants registered for the funds.
“The payroll would provide support between N30,000 and N50,000 for 500,000 vulnerable MSMEs to meet their obligations per employee over a duration of three months.“A total of 250,000 new businesses will get free Corporate Affairs Commission business name registration,’’ the minister said. According to her, 100,000 businesses affected by the pandemic will get N50,000 each and 330,000 artisans and transport business operators would get N30,000 to reduce the effect on loss of income.
