Objective:
To support the development of 10 local MSMEs with funding, mentorship, and business training.
Scope:
Loochi Fellowship will be open to businesses that meet the following criteria:
- Owned/founded by a Nigerian citizen
- Under 3 years of existence
- Founder/Owner is between age 20 and 45
- Annual business turnover is below N5 million
- Has a minimum viable product (has a product in the market)
- Business has evidence of revenue
- Business should be in at least one of these sectors;
- Food,
- Retail,
- General fashion,
- Confectionery,
- Agriculture
Process:
The fellowship will be implemented in 3 stages:
Stage 1 – Application:
Eligible applicants who satisfy the eligibility criteria apply to Loochi Fellowship within the application window. Only complete applications submitted before the close of the application window will be considered for shortlisting.
Stage 2 – Selection:
The selection process will include judging applications against eligibility criteria.
Eligible applications will proceed to interviews.
The interview panel will evaluate applications based on
- scalability,
- entrepreneurial skills,
- business case,
- investment readiness and
- market knowledge.
Only 10 applicants will be selected from the pool of applicants to make up the first cohort of the Loochi Fellowship.
Stage 3 – Execution:
Selected applicants will constitute the first cohort of the Loochi Fellowship, and will be announced at a ceremony/conference.
Loochi Fellows will participate in compulsory 4 weeks of business training featuring high-quality learning and development in
- entrepreneurship,
- business funding,
- financial management,
- team building,
- customer acquisition and retention, and
- using technology for business development.
During the first 2 weeks, the first round of N250,000 will be disbursed to each Loochi Fellow.
At the end of the business training, each Loochi Fellows will receive the balance of N250,000 interest-free loan with a moratorium of 3 months.
Loochi Fellows will receive certificates confirming their status as Loochi Fellows.
Timeline:
- Application – June 11th to 19th 2021
- Selection – June 21st to 23rd 2021
- Announcement of Loochi Fellows/Award of Fellowship – June 24th, 2021
- Business Training Begins – July 5th, 2021
- First Disbursement – July 19th, 2021
- End of Business Training/Second Disbursement – August 2nd, 2021
Loochi money is good money, I collected a loan from them to buy more spare parts, I sold all my goods and made good profit from which I paid back the loan conveniently.
