SunTrust Bank has launched “women in fashion”, an initiative which allows female entrepreneurs in the fashion industry to access up to N5 million loan.
The bank flagged off the initiative at its head office in Victoria Island, Lagos state, on Wednesday.
This development comes less than two months after the bank launched “women on wheels”, an initiative which empowered several female drivers with cars to boost their involvement in the ride-hailing industry.
For the “women in fashion” initiative, female entrepreneurs can access between N500,000 and N5 million facility to boost their businesses.
Raliat Oyetunde, the bank’s head of SME and regional head in Lagos and Western Nigeria, said one of the criteria for selecting successful beneficiaries is the scalable nature of the business.
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“The focus is for beneficiaries to export their products and bring in foreign exchange,” she said.
Addressing journalists at the event, Halima Buba, SunTrust managing director, said 100 beneficiaries will be selected in Lagos, while another 100 will be selected in Abuja.
Buba said the loan has an interest rate of about 16 percent with a repayment period of 12 months.
“We see it as an avenue to encourage our women who are into fashion to produce not only for the Nigerian market, but also to produce for export,” she said.
“For a start, we are launching this initiative in Lagos, but we are starting with 100 women in Lagos and 100 women in Abuja. Women all over Nigeria can also key into the programme.
“Our ‘women on wheels’ programme was a huge success and because of the that, we are having the ‘women in fashion’, after which we are also looking at women in agricultural sector. We have all these programmes lined up for women.
“There is a saying that if you empower a woman, you have empowered a nation. And if you look at the management of SunTrust Bank, 80 percent are women. We encourage everybody, but we like to encourage women more.”
Sun Trust Bank launched to the General Public on August 15, 2016. Inspired by the future, it is a privately held Commercial Bank licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria under the BOFIA.
The Bank focuses its lending activities on SME Finance, Retail/Consumer Banking, and Medium to large Corporate Finance and explores other specialized Development/Infrastructure financing activities.
