The National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Thursday, commenced disbursement of soft loans worth over ₦1,560,000 to artisans and market women with management skills in Anambra state to further enhance their operational capacity.
The state NDE coordinator, Mrs Chika Ufelle, who disclosed this at orientation ceremony in Awka, Anambra state, noted that each of the beneficiaries would be given a cash loan of #20,000, as well as get trained on financial management skills.
According to Ufelle, 78 beneficiaries of the loan were selected under the Micro Enterprise Enhancement Loan Scheme, MEES, drawn from the 21 local government areas of the state.
“These 78 beneficiaries will be trained in Costing, Record keeping and Purchasing &stock control, Financial Integrity Training. Also they will be trained on Insurance for them to know the essence of obtaining cover for their businesses and forestall loss by any natural or unnatural disaster.
“The beneficiaries are operators of existing micro enterprises who receive the micro loan package to expand their businesses and in turn improve their earnings. It is on this basis that the NDE is injecting the sum of #1.56million into the businesses of these artisans and market women selected across the 21 local government areas of the state,” she stated.
In a vote of thanks, one of the beneficiaries, Mr. Ochefu Onyemaechi, commended NDE for the opportunity, assuring that they would judiciously utilise the cash loan to build the society.
