The Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Mariam Katagum has said a total of 174,574 applicants have successfully registered for the N75 Billion National MSME Survival Fund aimed at rejigging businesses that have been affected by the negative impact of COVID-19 within 48 hours.
Mrs Katagum explained that the scheme targets 500,000 individual beneficiaries, 45 per cent of which will be given to female-owned MSMEs and five percent to special needs-owned MSMEs.
The Minister, who disclosed this on Thursday during a press briefing on the National MSMEs Survival Fund and Guaranteed off-take Stimulus Scheme in Abuja, stressed that the first will sustain 300,000 jobs in 10,000 MSMEs by guaranteeing off-take of priority products while the second will sustain at least 500,000 jobs in 50,000 SMEs.
It would be recalled that the federal government had earlier announced that the scheme, designed to save jobs and sustain local production amidst COVID-19, will come in two tracks.
