Description

LAPO MICROFINANCE

Lapo Microfinance is a national financial institution with headquarters in Benin city, Edo state and a branch in Lagos state. It aims at reducing poverty with a pro-poor movement which is done by empowering low- income individuals socially and economically through accessibility to sustainable financial services.

Lapo offers unsecured loans of up to NGN 500,000 for small businesses and NGN5,000,000 for small and Medium-scale Enterprises.

Microfinance lending is the provision of financial services for people who don’t have access to traditional financial services such as banks. The loans are aimed at individuals who were previously considered “unbankable” by larger banking institutions. These are borrowers who are possibly dealing in small amounts of money each day, living in hard-to-access areas, without credit histories or who don’t meet “traditional requirements” within the banking sector.

Microfinance loans specifically are not appropriate in situations where they propagate a cycle of debt or dependence. If you are taking out the loan to pay off another loan, this is considered very bad practice.

PROS

• The repayment structure is flexible
• Light paper work
• All borrowers are provided insurance throughout the tenor of the loans.

CONS

• Guarantors required.
• Coverage restricted to Lagos state and Edo state.
• On-site assessment.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

• Loan application letter
• Duly completed application form
• 2 guarantors
• A valid means of ID (national ID, driver’s license, voter’s card or international passport)
• Current utility bill
• 4 recent passport-size photographs