Diamond Bank Offers Interest-free Loans to SME Operators

As part of its contribution towards economic development in Nigeria through SMEs support, Diamond Bank Plc has once again up the ante by granting interest-free loans of N2 million to five operators of micro, small and medium scale enterprises (MSME) who finally emerged winners of its recently concluded “Borrow For Free Promo.”

Few months ago, Diamond Bank in collaboration with Seancross Marketing Limited designed the promo in order to assist MSMEs understand the relationship between a business plan and access to finance by requesting from existing and new customers of the Diamond BusinessXpress Account to submit business plans on an existing or proposed business.

In a statement by the bank, it said: “It was an opportunity for existing and new customers of the bank’s Diamond BusinessXpress Account, who had been asked to submit business plans on an existing or proposed business. The five MSMEs with the best business plans were selected and given the opportunity to obtain interest-free loans up to a maximum of N2 million each to expand existing business or start a new one”.

Speaking on the importance of the initiative to Diamond Bank’s retail banking strategy, Senior Advisor, Retail Banking, Diamond Bank, Mr. Garry Marsh, stated that the promotion had further enhanced Diamond Bank’s reputation as the MSME bank of Nigeria.

“The promotion has further enhanced Diamond Bank’s reputation as the MSME Bank of Nigeria. It required entrepreneurs to write a business plan – some of them did this for the first time. The discipline in doing so can only have enhanced their understanding of their own business and made them better business owners. The winners will now be able to utilise the free borrowing to implement their business plans and grow their business; we look forward to a long fruitful partnership with them” Marsh stated.

Beneficiaries were Elizabeth Ejirika, a specialist in grain processing and sales; Tee Martins Global Resources Limited, Ozoemena Osita Francis, who also runs a Vegetable Oil Production firm; Questill Managers Limited and Invent Solutions Links Limited.