CBN Issues N22.9bn Seed Capital For Creative Industry

The Central Bank of Nigeria, in collaboration with the Bankers’ Committee, has provided N22.9 billion seed capital for the Creative Industry Financing Initiative (CIFI).

In a circular released at the weekend, the apex bank said the CIFI project was aimed boosting job creation, particularly among youths.

It said the Student Software Development loan will be allocated N1 billion; Information Technology, N5.5 billion; Movie production, N3 billion; Movie Distribution, N4 billion, Music, N5.4 billion and Fashion N4 billion.

The CBN said beneficiaries could get up to N500 million loans at nine per cent interest.

It noted that those that could apply must be from fashion, Information Technology, movie production, movie distribution, music and software engineering student loan.

The apex bank stated: “Software engineering student can get a loan of up to N3 million, N30 million for movie production business, N500 million for movie distribution business, cover your rental/service fees for fashion and Information Technology business, cover your training fees, equipment fees, and rental/service fees for music business.”

The CBN urged applicants in the creative industry to submit applications to their banks for approval and disbursement. It also advised them to prepare the business plan or statement on how much they required for the business.

According to the CBN, the banks will discuss the request and provide the money.

The maximum interest rate of nine per cent per year (all charges inclusive) is applicable to all.

According to the guidelines, for software engineering student loan, it is a maximum of three years; for movie production and distribution, it is a maximum of 10 years; for fashion,Information Technology and music, it is a maximum of 10 years.

The CBN reiterated its commitment to making the CIFI a huge success.