In the just concluded Zoom Town hall meeting with the Permanent secretary of the Ministry of youth and sport and the MD of NIRSAL MICROFINANCE BANK regarding the NATIONAL YOUTH INVESTMENT FUND (NYIF), the followings are highlights of the meeting :
Starting from Monday 30th November , all applicants will be able to upload their business plans on the NYIF portal.
Your qualification for the fund will be determined by your business plan, so is the amount to be approved for your business.
The ministry has changed the process of application to the following 3 basic steps:
- Registration and uploading of business plan.
2. Training
3. Disbursement
Unlike how it was before, now, It is after your business plan upload that you’ll be invited for training if your business plan is worthy of funding.
There are higher chances of your business being funded if you make it to training. About 90% of applicants selected for the training will become beneficiaries.
If selected for the training, you’re already 90% qualified for the loan.
You will need one guarantor if selected to benefit.
You can apply as group or cooperative, but only one person representing others must have fulfilled all the eligibility conditions.
Maximum accessible amount is 3 million naira, lowest is 250k.
Interest Rate is 5%.
Moratorium is 12 months
Loan tenure is 36 months.
A bill is already being prepared to be sent to the National assembly to pass the NYIF into law so as to ensure its continuity with successive governments.
Accessing the fund, from application to disbursement is 3 to 6weeks.
You’ll need to be a formally registered business to access above 500k, otherwise you’ll only access between 250,000 to 500,000 Naira.
Survival fund beneficiaries are eligible; Covid-19 TCF household beneficiaries will be made eligible.