Kwara State Social Investment Programmes (KWASSIP) has announced the commencement of the selection process for 7, 202 applicants for the state’s interest-free loans for young entrepreneurs, (Kwapreneurs).
The statement reiterated that successful applicants will be trained and supported with interest-free loans ranging from N350,000 to N3,000,000 each, depending on the scale of their proposed businesses.
The selection process, including the training, will last for five weeks.
The disbursement will come after thorough screening of the entries in line with cardinals of the scheme by experts, according to the statement signed by the Ag. General Manager, Mohammed Brimah.
“The selection process of applicants for Kwapreneurs begins on Thursday. We are considering applications from 7, 202 persons in this phase. After thorough screening of the entries by experts, successful applicants and next stage of the programme will be announced within the next few days,” the statement quoted Brimah as saying.
“In the analysis of the applications, 44. 5% of applicants are existing businesses in need of funds to scale up production. The scheme also recorded 73. 7% male applicants to 26. 3 % female.
“Top five sector distribution include Business Management (4.9%); Agriculture (33.4%); Fashion(10.1%); commercial/retail (6.6%); and ICT (6.7%). Other categories all together took 23.6%.
“We appreciate the enthusiasm of Kwara youths and are very much excited to discover and support this crop of entrepreneurs to become employers of labour and contribute to the socio-economic growth of the state.”
The statement said the scheme will be thorough and independent to the end. It enjoined applicants to prepare for hard work and dedication to benefit from the programme seeking to support youths with funds to reduce unemployment and foster socio-economic development in the state.
