Fashion, IT, movie, music creative businesses should leverage CIFI for funding

The Creative Industry Financing Initiative (CIFI) was created last year May via the collaboration of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Bankers Committee. With a seed fund of N22.9 billion in its kitty, the initiative aims to boost job creation among Nigerian youths by supporting entrepreneurial efforts in the creative industry comprising mainly fashion, Information Technology, movie, and music.

Although not many entrepreneurs are aware of this, the fund is still being administered. Entrepreneurs with valid business proposals aimed at taking advantage of the specified creative fields are taking advantage of it.

In scope, the administration of the CIFI covers:

a. Existing enterprises in the creative industry;

b.Start-ups engaged in the creative industry; and

c. Students of higher institutions engaged in software development.

Creative businesses which fall within coverage of the initiative can access between N3 million and N500 million loans. While all registered commercial banks in Nigeria are considered as Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs), interested entrepreneurs are expected to submit proposals with clear business plan, execution, model, and amount needed, to the closest bank. The bank will scrutinize the proposal. If it finds the business proposal good enough it then sends it to the Central Bank which will make the fund available to the particular bank for disbursement. This is after terms of repayment have been agreed though.

Since funding has been one of the banes of entrepreneurship development in Nigeria, if your business falls with the specified sub-sector and scope, you should approach your bank to get more insight.