Sohe gives K500,000 for SME loans

ORO’S Sohe District Development Authority has launched a small-to-medium enterprise (SME) credit scheme with a K500,000 deposit at the National Development Bank (NDB) in Popondetta.
The event on Friday also coincided with the re-opening of NDB’s Popondetta branch, which had been closed for more than three years, to enhance access to SME loans, banking and other financial services for the people of Sohe and Oro.
Sohe MP Henry Amuli, when presenting the cheque to NDB chief executive Johnson Pundari, said the district was now taking a step to encourage SME development in the district.
“Over the last five years during my first term as MP, every year, we provided K100,000 each to our four local level governments of Kira, Tamata, Kokoda and Higaturu to support small businessmen and women engaged in the informal economy such as table markets, trade stores and others,” Amuli said.
“So in the last five years, we have provided almost K2 million to support our SMEs in the district.
“We are now taking a step further to migrate these SMEs from the informal economy into the formal economy and that is why we are launching the SME credit scheme.”