Roseau Dominica, Thursday 29th January, 2015: In response to the challenges being faced by women and youth, the AID Bank has created two exciting products with a focus on these two segments of the population.
The Women Entrepreneurs Fund (WE Fund) is a loan facility, which will be open to all women 18 years and over across Dominica who are involved in agriculture, agribusiness or any other enterprise. Successful applicants will be able to access up to $30,000 with interest rates from as low as 5%. In the case of the young entrepreneurs’ fund, titled Startup Stars, participants will be eligible for a maximum loan of $50,000 with interest rates starting from 5%, subject to the customer meeting the Bank’s criteria.
The Bank has listened to feedback from customers, partner organizations and other stakeholders. Both the Women Entrepreneurs Fund and Startup Stars programme will address some of the challenges faced by women in business and young entrepreneurs when seeking financing. In initiating these products, we are also fulfilling our mandate to promote and influence economic development in Dominica and to support the government’s Growth and Social Protection Strategy (GSPS) programmes.
The tagline for the WE Fund: “WE Mean Business” succinctly encapsulates the seriousness with which the AID Bank is addressing the issues that women face with respect to financing their businesses, and also serves to further encourage women in their quest to raise funds and to properly manage their new or existing enterprises. The first ten successful applicants will receive either a smart phone or tablet as an incentive.
.png)
The Startup Stars programme is geared towards young people between the ages of 18 and 35 who want to start a business or are already engaged in some form of productive enterprise. A competitive process will take place twice a year among all applicants and five entrepreneurs will be selected every six months to receive special incentives.
Interested persons are asked to call 448-2853, visit the AID Bank’s head office in Goodwill or log on towww.aidbank.comfor more information.