Nigerian households and small businesses looking to acquire solar panels, batteries, inverters, and other green energy equipment now have access to as much as N10 million to buy these assets through the First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Energy Finance Loan. The loan is designed to help homes and small businesses like hospitals, schools, restaurants, bars, stores, hotels, and fashion places keep life and work going by using clean energy.
Commenting on the Energy Loan product, the Managing Director of FCMB, Mrs. Yemisi Edun, described it as “another bold intervention by the lender to unlock the potential of the renewable and clean energy sector, provide relief to Nigerians, and encourage clean energy.”
She said: “Access to energy drives economic growth and development. The FCMB Energy Finance offering is a reaffirmation of our commitment to eco-friendly energy finance to fight climate change, drive the growth of businesses, improve the quality of life, and accelerate development through environmentally sustainable energy solutions. With the removal of the petrol subsidy, more Nigerians are focusing on alternative energy sources to power their homes and businesses.
“We will continue to scale up our support to individuals and businesses to enable the country to take full advantage of the opportunities in these areas for the overall benefit of humanity’’.
The Bank upgraded the product to lessen the impact of reduced subsidies on traditional fossil fuels, which has caused a rise in petrol prices across the country, given the pervasive use of small gasoline generators to power households and small businesses.
In his comment, the Group Head of Business Banking at FCMB, Mr. George Ogbonnaya, said:
“We understand the challenges individuals and businesses face in securing funding to provide clean and sustainable power. The FCMB Energy Finance loan is structured to eliminate these challenges. It is a flexible facility with two to seven years of repayment options at competitive interest rates. We urge Nigerians, especially small business owners, to take advantage of this opportunity to reduce energy costs for their homes and businesses’’.
Applauding the product, the President of the Renewable Energy Association of Nigeria, Mr. Ayo Ademilua, said:
“The energy finance loan is innovative and coming at the right time when the market needs alternative energy solutions mostly due to PMS price increase”.
Speaking on carbon financing, the CEO of Consistent Energy Limited, Dr. Segun Adaju, said:
“The 2023 Electricity Act promotes private-public sector partnerships, allowing private companies to participate in the renewable energy space and catalyze investments through carbon trading. The carbon trading market has become attractive, and more parties are beginning to promote carbon trading in Africa following the Africa Carbon Markets Initiative (ACMI) established in 2022 to unlock the potential of voluntary carbon markets for financing Africa’s energy, climate, and development goals. It is heartwarming that FCMB has keyed into this by providing a platform through the FCMB Energy Finance Loan product to provide the much-needed funding to Nigerians to acquire affordable clean energy sources’’.
FCMB has taken the lead in deepening the renewable energy space through a three-pronged approach: capacity building, providing access to funding, and opportunities to connect renewable energy developers with end-users. The Bank has supported over 50% of the key developers in Nigeria with debt financing for mini-grids, commercial, and solar home systems. It has so far disbursed over N7 billion for the execution of energy efficiency projects, cutting across mini-grids, solar energy, and other energy efficiency projects.
First City Monument Bank (FCMB) is a member of the FCMB Group Plc. The Bank is committed to fostering inclusive and sustainable growth within its communities, and it aims to build a supportive ecosystem rooted in Africa, connecting people, capital, and markets. By offering innovative financial solutions like Energy Finance loans, FCMB is helping to improve the economic well-being of businesses and Nigerians.