BENIN CITY - The Lift Above Poverty Organisation (LAPO), a Benin-based micro-finance firm has been offered a N580-million facility by the US-based Grameen Foundation to broaden its operations.
Spokesman for LAPO, Wisdom Abhulimen told newsmen in Benin that the package was announced in U.S. by the Chief Executive of Grameen Foundation, Mr. Alex Counts.
LAPO is a micro-finance institution, which provides affordable financial services to rural and urban clients, especially women.
Abhulimen said the facility, which was packaged by Standard Chartered Bank, would be supported by a two-million-dollar guarantee from the Global Non-Profit Foundation in Washington D.C.
He said the offer was the bank’s largest deal with any microfinance institution in the country and the largest portfolio financing received by LAPO from a commercial bank.
Abhulimen said LAPO had been a Grameen Foundation partner since 2002, pointing out that the company currently served more than 200,000 clients across the federation.
Contributing, LAPO’s Executive Director, Godwin Ehigiamusoe said the new deal would definitely expand the capacity of the organization to reach a larger number of clients.
Ehigiamusoe said LAPO sought to empower the poor and brake the grip of poverty through the provision of a range of financial services at affordable conditions.
He said the organisation’s products had been developed and refined over the years to meet the emerging needs of clients.
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