The Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (CARES) Program is a state-level intervention that seeks to mitigate the local effects of the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic at the state-level, by protecting the livelihoods of existing and newly poor and vulnerable households, and supporting the recovery of local economic activity especially among MSMEs.
The program consists of 3 Results Areas (RAs) as defined below:
- RA 1 – Focuses on Social Protection.
- RA 2 – Focuses on Agriculture and;
- RA3 – Focuses on Micro Small and Medium scale enterprises (MSMEs).
This Program pertains to Result Area 3 (RA3)- Facilitating Recovery and Enhancing Capabilities of Micro, Small &Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
Results Area 3 is aimed at facilitating the recovery and enhancing capabilities of local MSMEs through interventions designed to reduce the vulnerability and cushion the effect of income loss brought about by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its resultant disruption to regular commercial activity.
ITS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT THIS PROGRAM IS RUN BY THE WORLD BANK AND BANK OF INDUSTRY (BOI) AND NOT THE ENUGU SME CENTER
FAQ
Most frequent questions and answers
The Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (CARES) Program is a state-level intervention that seeks to mitigate the local effects of the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic at the state-level, by protecting the livelihoods of existing and newly poor and vulnerable households, and supporting the recovery of local economic activity especially among MSMEs.
The program consists of 3 Results Areas (RAs) as defined below:
- RA 1 – Focuses on Social Protection
- RA 2 – Focuses on Agriculture and;
- RA3 – Focuses on Micro Small and Medium scale enterprises (MSMEs)
`This Program pertains to Result Area 3 (RA3)- Facilitating Recovery and Enhancing Capabilities of Micro, Small &Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)
Results Area 3 is aimed at facilitating the recovery and enhancing capabilities of local MSMEs through interventions designed to reduce the vulnerability and cushion the effect of income loss brought about by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its resultant disruption to regular commercial activity.
| S/N | Program Objectives | Implementation Priorities |
| Delivery Link Indicator | Easing Financing Constraints | Conditional Capital Grant for co-financing up to 40% of NEW loans originated by qualified financial institutions to qualified Beneficiaries in COVID-19 crisis. Enugu State isn’t participating in this Result Area in phase 1 of the Program |
| Delivery Link Indicator | Employment and Job Creation Grants- | – Covers Payroll, rent, utilities, security, alternative power – Supply etc. – Excludes Taxes and regulatory levies |
| Delivery Link Indicator | Enhancing MSME Capability | Conditional Grants to support adoption and upgrade of Digital Technology, particularly tools that support remote work – Covers IT infrastructure, connectivity and digital technology tools e.g. Laptops, Internet services, eCommerce listings, productivity software suites etc. |
For Enugu State, we are only focusing on Result Area 3.2- Employment and Job Creation Grants and Result Area 3.3- Enhancing MSME Capability
Yes, it is mandatory that these companies operational in Enugu State. Even if you live outside Enugu State, its fine, as long as your business is domiciled in Enugu State
NO! It is advisable you register in either of the Delivery-Link Indicators as registering for more than one DLI might disqualify your business.
Yes. The company must be registered as any one of the following:
- The business can be registered as a Limited Liability Company or Business Enterprises with the Corporate Affairs Commission
- The business can be registered by the State either as a Cooperative with relevant Ministry with all necessary documents
- Step 1- Go to https://cares.plax.ng/enugu
- Step 2- Select either DLI 3.2- Operational Grant or DLI 3.3- IT Enhancement Grant. Remember, Enugu State is not participating in DL1 3.1- Grant
Kindly note that there are three stages of application before your business is finally selected as the grant beneficiary.
The three (3) stages are:
- Application Stage
- Vetting Stage
- Enumeration State
For this stage, there is no “Documentation Upload”. Just fill out the below information.
- Business Name
- What Kind of Business? (Industry Type)
- Industry Subtype
- What Date/Year did you open your business?
- Number of employees?
- Last name of Head of Business?
- First Name of Head of Business?
- Date of Birth of Head of Business?
- Phone number of Head of Business?
- Email of Head of Business?
- Gender of Head of Business?
- State of Business?
- LGA of Business?
- How much sales (In Naira) do you currently make monthly?
After filling out the below information, kindly Submit your application
Kindly note that when you apply, your application will be reviewed; upon a satisfactory review, your application will be vetted by being nominated to move to the next phase of the application.
Kindly note that ‘Been Vetted’ is the second stage of your application. To know if your application has been approved for vetting, simply confirm by doing the following:
- Click on ‘Get Vetted’ on the Plax application platform.
- Input your ‘Phone Number’ (the phone number used during the application).
- If your business has been vetted, you will be taken to a new window where you fill information about your business.
- If your application has not been vetted, you will be requested to wait or you would receive an email/sms on the reason why you haven’t been approved for this Stage by Bank of Industry.
If your application has been successfully approved for vetting and nominated; you are expected to fill out the following for Result Area 3.2
- STEP 1: VALIDATION: Phone number (Input phone number used to register)
- STEP 2: CONFIRM IDENTITY: After entering phone number and clicking next, your details automatically pop up for you to confirm
- STEP 3: BUSINESS DETAILS: Phone number & Business name automatically pop up
- Is your business currently active?
- Number of Staff?
- Upload document that proves staff
- Why are you applying for the operations grant? (Choose from dropdown)
- STEP 4: REGISTRATION DETAILS
- Is your business registered with CAC or the State Govt? (Upload document)
- Where is, your business registered – CAC or State Govt (Upload document)
- When was, your business registered (or if not registered, when did you start operating?) (Choose date)
- Does your business pay taxes and can show proof of tax? (Upload document)
- Are you a registered member of a trade union, association or cooperative? (Upload document)
- STEP 5: VIABILITY DETAILS
- How much profit (in Naira) were you making monthly before the COVID Pandemic (e.g in any of the 6 months before January 2020) (Upload proof)
- How much profit (in Naira) were you making monthly during the heat of the COVID Pandemic (e.g in any month from February – July 2020) (Upload proof)
- How much do you spend monthly in running your business? (Including staff salaries? (Upload proof)
- How much sales (in Naira) do you currently make monthly?
- STEP 6: VULNERABILITY DETAILS
- Is the Head of your business a female or male?
- What is the date of birth of the Head of your business?
- Does the Head of your business have a disability?
- STEP 7: OTHER DETAILS
- Does the Head of your business have a confirmed BVN?
- Enter BVN
- HOB Email (automatic)
- Accept declaration and submit.
Once you are done filling the above information, simply click on ‘SUBMIT. A notification will pop up that ‘submission of application was successfully submitted.
If your application has been successfully approved for vetting and nominated; you are expected to fill out the following for Result Area 3.3
- STEP 1: VALIDATION: Verify phone number (Input phone number used to register)
- STEP 2: CONFIRM IDENTITY: After entering phone number and clicking next, your details automatically pop up for you to confirm
- STEP 3: BUSINESS DETAILS:
- one number (Automatic)
- Business Name
- Is your business currently active?
- Number of employees? (upload proof)
- How many customers patronize your business every month on average?
- STEP 4: REGISTRATION DETAILS
- Where is, your business registered? (select from dropdown) (upload document)
- When was, your business registered (If not registered, when did you start operating)?
- Does your business pay taxes and can show proof of tax? (upload document)
- STEP 5: VIABILITY DETAILS
- What digital tools do you use for your business operations (Choose from dropdown) (no limit to choices) (upload proof of tools being used)
- What additional digital technology tools will enhance your operations the most? (Maximum of 3 tools) (Choose from dropdown)
- Which of these tools is most important to your business need? (Pick one out of selected 3)
- What is the approximate value of digital tools you currently use?
- How many of your staff can use these digital tools?
- STEP 6: VULNERABILITY DETAILS
- Is the Head of your business a female of male? (Upload birth certificate of business owner)
- What is the date of birth of the Head of your business?
- Does the Head of your business have a disability?
- STEP 7: OTHER DETAILS
- Does the Head of your business have a confirmed BVN?
- Enter BVN
- HOB Email (automatic)
- Accept declaration and submit.
Unfortunately, this means your application has been rejected by Bank of Industry (BOI) due to inability to meet the approval threshold
You are expected to wait for your application to be fully reviewed by Bank of Industry. Your application can either be approved or rejected if you don’t meet the Vetting Guidelines. You shall be notified of your status either by email/sms.
Kindly note that the Vetting score is 40.
- Your vetting score is below 40, your application will be rejected.
- If your vetting score is 40 and above, your application will be approved.
Once your application is Approved, you will be matched with an Enumerator Agent.
An Enumerator Agent is one who will be matched to verify the authenticity of your application, business details and business existence.
Unfortunately, this means that you did not meet the selection criteria for Phase 1; however, do not re-apply for Phase 2 as you will get a prompt that you already applied. We will review your application again as submitted in Phase 1 to see if it meets the current Assessment Criteria for Phase 2.
I am a beneficiary of Phase 1 of the Program, can I apply again?
No! You cannot apply again. If you already benefitted from any DLI of the NG-CARES grant, you cannot apply or benefit again.
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Enugu State SME Agency on Facebook.
www.enugusme.en.gov.ng
+2349042439495; +2348089344768; +2348084998224; +2349013484336; +234701809822
