SMEDA Boss Discloses Start OfSecond Phase of Munafa Fund
By Abdul Rahman Bah
At a press conference held on Thursday 4th January 2023, at the offices of the Small and medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDA), its CEO, Mr Sanoh, said that the second phase of the Munafa fund has begun, and that some Le15 billion Leones have been disbursed to the various Financial Service Providers for access to by SMEs.
Mr Sannoh noted that the establishment of the fund was part of President Bio’s commitment to help the vulnerable people and develop small scale businesses. He furthered that the President promised to concentrate on the development of the private sector, and this fund was established to do simply that. He furthered that Le30 billion Leones was lodged at the Central Bank to be accessed by the FSPs for onward loan, with very low interest rates, to SMEs.
Mr Sannoh noted that the problem of accessing loans from commercial banks had been a headache for many small scale businesses, as many could not afford the collateral that the banks demanded, and the interest rates of the banks were very high. Thus the Munafa Fund was designed to address these challenges. With the fund, the interest rate was brought very low to some 6% and now 9%, and SMEs were able to pay back the loan within a year. He expressed joy that the last loans issued by the various FSPs to SMEs have been repaid, and is hopeful that the second phase will be another successful endeavour. He however, warned SMEs to do their best to repay the loan, as in only doing so that others will have the opportunity to benefit from the fund. Mr Sanohdisclosed that over 2,245 SMEs will benefit from 15 Billion Leones of the Second Phase of the Munafa Fund Project.
The meeting was climaxed by a question and answer session.
