FINCA Microfinance Bank Nigeria Limited and Opportunity International Edufinance (OIE) have partnered to expand access to education loans in South-East Nigeria.
The partnership, through OIE’s Technical Assistance Facility (ETAF), already has led to the introduction of School Fees Loan product for parents of students in private sector education.
Besides, another product tagged: “School Improvement Loan” is now targeted at proprietors and owners of private schools, for improvement and enhancement of their schools.
The partnership aims to reach at least 118,000 children within the next two years.Leveraging on Opportunity’s deep history in EduFinance across Africa and FINCA’s over 30 years of experience in providing responsible financial services, ETAF will provide technical support, as well as startup funding for these products.
Also, the partnership will shine a light on the breadth of financial service providers in the market, demonstrating the win-win that comes from microfinance institutions, expanding into the education lending space.
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The Chief Executive Officer, FINCA MFB, Andre Lalumiere, while speaking to the press, noted that the mission of both FINCA MFB and Opportunity International is to alleviate poverty through sustainable localized solutions.
“Having seen its success in other countries, we are really excited to grow our portfolio by expanding into the education finance market. We are a growing microfinance institution with a mission to alleviate poverty and we believe supporting education is a key factor to achieving this.
“We anticipate making a real difference to the lives of our clients through offering responsible financial services designed to improve the education quality of our local schools, and to help our clients’ children go to and stay in school,” he said.
The School Improvement Loan product will target the growth of services to low-income families by bolstering the ability of schools in low-income environments to grow their intake.
At the same time permitting the school owners to fulfill their vision for the school and provide quality education.The Head, Education Finance, Opportunity International, Nathan Byrd, stated that Opportunity EduFinance is thrilled to expand into Nigeria.
“Nigeria is a country where we’re keen to have a presence. This partnership enables us to bring our expertise and experience to a new partner where there’s real need for sustainable, scalable education programs and we’re excited to be taking this first step with FINCA,” he said.
Source: G Business
