Everyone who is starting a new business in Nigeria is looking for funding to get started. The best way to get funding for starting your business is to apply for small business grants in Nigeria. Grants don’t have to be repaid, unlike business loans. Hence you won’t have to worry about APR, refinancing or long term interest rates. If you fill the eligibility criteria, then all you need to do is apply and you will get reasonable funding.
In this blog post, we are going to discuss tips for getting business grants in Nigeria for starting your business.
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AYEEN Financial Grants
Africa’s Young Entrepreneurs is dedicated to empowering entrepreneurs who are young and are struggling throughout Africa. AYEEN aims at creating platforms which would contribute to this cause by facilitating intercontinental trade. The mission statement of AYEEN claims to shape the next generation of African entrepreneurs who will change the economic landscape in their localities.
AYEEN is tending to finance various small businesses in various economic sectors. The winner of this grant will be funded unconditionally. However, the funded businesses and their respective owners will be monitored for a year to ensure transparency. For being eligible for getting this funding you must be a Nigerian citizen and you must live in one of the 36 Nigerian states.
GroFin Fund
GroFin is a specialized financier which supports SGBs across the Middle East and Africa. GroFin combines specialized business support and patient capital for growing emerging enterprises.
It focuses on delivering an integrated solution for risk capital and peer to peer business support for starting businesses at the SME base. It has a funding size of over US $100 Million for funding Nigerian medium, small and micro businesses (MSMEs)
For being eligible you must operate in Nigeria, have a turnover of less than US $15 million and assets worth less than US $6 million. You can get funded for US $1.5 – 100 million through this grant.
YouWIN Connect Nigeria
It is a program initiated by the federal ministry of finance. It aims at promoting job creation, entrepreneurship and enterprise education for the youth. The objective of this program is to diversify the economy by promoting transparency and competition.
The three editions of YouWIN Connect Nigeria have awarded more than 2500 young entrepreneurs until now.
For being eligible you must have a higher educational institute degree, you must be aged 18-40, you must have Nigerian citizenship and residency, your business must be located in Nigeria, you must be willing to attend all the mentoring and training workshops conducted by this program, and you must have affluent command in English.
Lagos State Entrepreneurs Trust Fund (LSETF).
This trust was established by The Lagos State Employment Trust Fund Law 2016. This trust is aimed at providing Lagos State residents with financial support, job opportunities, solutions for unemployment and wealth creation.
LSETF is an effective way for inspiring innovative and creative energy sources for residents of Lagos state. This would help in reducing unemployment throughout the state.
This trust has the capacity to fund more than ₦25Billion for helping people of Lagos in scaling and growing their Medium, small and micro enterprises i.e. MSMEs. It would also help them in equipping themselves with better skills which in turn will help them in getting better job opportunities.
Governor Akinwunmi Ambode was the founder of LSETF. And it was his vision to support 100,000 MSMEs by the end of 2019. He also envisioned more than 600,000 indirect jobs and more than 300,000 direct jobs. The mission statement is being fulfilled as 705 individuals have been awarded until now. You can also get the support you need by applying for LSETF funding.
Diamond Bank BET Program
Building Entrepreneurs Today (BET) is a program which is targeted at providing support for aspiring entrepreneurs. 50 entrepreneurs are selected every year from a pool of thousands of received applications. These selected entrepreneurs are given a 6-month long intensive business and corporate training.
The top 5 entrepreneurs are awarded grants at the end of the 6-month training. They then use these grants as investment capital for starting and growing their own businesses.
You can also apply for this program if you are aged under 25 and have what it takes to stand out. This program not only rewards with a handsome funding grant but it also equips you with the skills required for running a successful business.
