By Bashir Hassan Abubakar
Towards boosting the business of petty traders and having met the criteria for accessing loan under the Microfinance Institutions Building for Poverty Reduction (MIFIN) Program of the Bauchi State Agency for Sustainable Microfinance, a women cooperative group Jinkan Allah has access the sum of N250,000.00 worth of grains to boost their businesses within their communities.
Handing over the bags of grains worth the sum of the loan requested at the end in Yelwa Community, Executive Director of a Civil Society Organization (CSO) known as Community Advocate for Rural Development (CARD) that serves as the Micro Finance Institution (MFI) that facilitated the loan on behalf of the women cooperative, Mrs Habiba Ajufor expressed her gratitude to Bauchi State Agency for Sustainable Micro Finance for granting the loan under the Agency’s MIFIN program.
Mrs. Ajufor said that Jinkan Allah Cooperative was the first set beneficiaries of the MIFIN soft loan initiative amongst CARD’s clusters of Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs), after fulfilling all the criteria stipulated by the Bauchi State Micro Finance Agency.
She said the cooperative is made up of 25 women, with each woman having N10,000.00 worth of grains to boost their existing small business.
The ED also disclosed that Jinkan Allah Cooperative Group have demonstrated their capacity of managing the loan from their personal collective contributions with evidence of good record keeping of savings and loans within them before accessing the Agency’s loan.
She then expressed her optimism that at the end of the cycle tenure of the loan, they would qualify for a much higher sum of loan to boost their income in line with the goal of the MIFIN program of the State Agency for Sustainable Micro Finance.
In a good will message to beneficiaries, Representative of the Agency, Hajiya Jummai Shuaibu congratulated Jinkan Allah Cooperative Group for being the first beneficiaries of the Agency’s MIFIN program saying they would always remain a reference point for future beneficiaries.
Hajiya Jummai also commended the MFI for grooming the Cooperative in line with the guidelines for accessing the loans, promising that such commitment would paved the way for a more financial inclusion of Cooperative groups in the State with a view to improving their businesses, enhanced standard of living and breaking the shackles of poverty within communities of Bauchi State.
Speaking to our correspondent, the Chairperson of Jinkan Allah Cooperative Society Mrs. Salome Damina thanked CARD for exposing the Cooperative to the innovative way of creating wealth through the VSLA initiative.
Mrs. Damina said that between their petty trading, giving and repaying loans amongst members, businesses will grow and sustainable standard of living for families will be assured.
Meanwhile, the Agency staff paid a visit to Unguwan Fadan Bayak in Bauchi metropolis to assess the level of preparedness of another Women Cooperative Group known as Aminci Women Group to access the Agency’s MIFIN loan.
According to the Agency’s Representative Hajiya Jummai Shuaibu, the visit afforded the Agency staff and the MFI the opportunity to evaluate the Cooperative group’s performance using their personal savings under VSLA model.
Jummai said that what they saw during the evaluation visit has strengthened the Agency’s confidence in the ability of the cooperative to manage it’s finances and any soft loan that may be granted to them under the Agency’s MIFIN program.
While expressing his appreciation to the State Government, the Ward Head of Fadan Bayak, Mallam Lawan Ibn Sina said that after Agency’s mentoring of the Aminci Women Group, the women are excited on the prospect of getting the Agency’s soft loan for their MFI.
The ward head said that already, the women have commenced their collective savings from their small businesses in preparation to accessing the loan.
He then commended the immediate past Director General of the Agency, Alhaji Muhammad Nura (Danmadamin Katagum), for doggedness in bringing the activities of the Agency to public knowledge.
Mallam also thanked Governor Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed for his care and concern for the welfare of the less privileged members of the society.
At the end of the evaluation exercise of Cooperative Group, over N400, 000.00 was saved by the Cooperative.
