At least, 3000 small scale business owners have been earmarked to benefit from the first batch of operational cost grants under the Kwara COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (CARES) programme.
The program, a World Bank project that will be supported by the Kwara state government, is intended to lessen the consequences of COVID-19, enhance MSMEs to strengthen the local economy, and promote Kwara state’s employment rate.
“4,225 successful applicants underwent the vetting process for disbursement linked indicator, DLI 3.2. At the end of the vetting process, over 3,000 successful applicants are currently being contacted for enumeration by agents from the Bank of industry,” DLI 3.2- Ooperational grant team lead – Jaiye Jegede said in a statement Sunday.
In a hybrid online and offline registration process at the ministry of Business, Innovation and Technology and the Kwara state social investment programs office, Jegede said that over 20,000 applicants from all 16 local governments had submitted applications.
Following the registration which was open to all small business owners in Kwara state, over 4,000 successful applicants for the Operational cost grants (also known as disbursement linked indicator 3.2) were contacted by the Bank of Industry who are the implementing partners to fill a vetting form requesting for further information on their businesses,” he added.
The statement explained that the programme would kick off disbursement with the Operational cost grants also known as DLI 3.2, followed by the Credit grant and IT enhancement grant.
“The programme is focused on improving the employment rate and ease of running businesses in the state,” it added.
