Women group benefits from asset financing, soft loans in Bauchi
Samuel Luka, Bauchi
A women Co-operative group in Bauchi state, known as Jinkan Allah has access the sum of N250,000.00 worth of grains to boost their businesses within their communities after meeting the criteria for accessing loans under the Microfinance Institutions Building for Poverty Reduction (MIFIN) Program of the Bauchi State Agency for Sustainable Microfinance.
Handing over the bags of grains worth the sum of the loan requested at the weekend in Yelwa Community, Executive Director of a Civil Society Organization (CSO), Community Advocate for Rural Development (CARD) that serves as the Micro Finance Institution (MFI) which facilitated the loan on behalf of the women cooperative, Mrs Habiba Ajufoh expressed gratitude to the Bauchi State Agency for Sustainable Micro Finance for granting the loan.
Mrs. Ajufoh said that Jinkan Allah Cooperative was the first set beneficiaries of the MIFIN soft loan initiative amongst Community Advocate for Rural Development (CARD’s) clusters of Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs), after fulfilling all the criteria stipulated by the Bauchi State Micro Finance Agency.
She said the cooperative is made up of 25 women, with each woman having N10,000.00 worth of grains to boost their existing small businesses.
The Executive Director also disclosed that Jinkan Allah Cooperative Group have demonstrated their capacity of managing the loan from their personal collective contributions with evidence of good record keeping of savings and loans within them before accessing the Agency’s loan.
She then expressed her optimism that at the end of the cycle tenure of the loan, they would qualify for a much higher sum of loan to boost their income in line with the goal of the MIFIN program of the State Agency for Sustainable Micro Finance.
In a good will message to the beneficiaries, representative of the Agency, Hajiya Jummai Shuaibu congratulated Jinkan Allah Cooperative Group for being the first beneficiaries of the Agency’s MIFIN program.
Hajiya Jummai also commended the MFI for grooming the Cooperative in line with the guidelines for accessing the loans, promising that such commitment would paved the way for a more financial inclusion of Cooperative groups in the State with a view to improving their businesses, enhanced standard of living and breaking the shackles of poverty within communities of Bauchi State.
Also speaking, the Chairperson of Jinkan Allah Cooperative Society, Mrs. Salome Damina thanked CARD for exposing the Cooperative to the innovative way of creating wealth through the Village Saving and Loan Associations (VSLA) initiative.
Mrs. Damina said that between their petty trading, giving and repaying loans amongst members, businesses will grow and sustainable standard of living for families will be assured.
Meanwhile, the Agency staff paid a visit to Unguwan Fadan Bayak in Bauchi metropolis to assess the level of preparedness of another Women Cooperative Group known as Aminci Women Group to access the Agency’s MIFIN loan.
According to the Agency’s Representative Hajiya Jummai Shuaibu, the visit afforded the Agency’s staff and the MFI the opportunity to evaluate the Cooperative group’s performance using their personal savings under VSLA model.
