Nigerian Youth Investment Fund (NYIF) Application & How to Apply for Free Government Funds

November 24, 2021

Are you are youth and you are thinking of how you can get funds to start up your business venture, then you saw this article just in time as we have written this article to give you full detail of the Nigerian Youth Investment Fund and also how you can successfully apply for the funds.

The Federal Government has through its efforts in recent times try to encourage the youth to start up businesses and become entrepreneurs as these set of people are seen as game changers and are pivotal to the growth and development of the country.

The programme was initiated in 2020 and since then, it has seen a lot of beneficiaries and the interesting part is that it is still open and so you can register and benefit from the programme as a youth with business aspiration.

Before we proceed, let’s look at a list of what we have to discuss in this article.

Table of content

What is the Nigerian Youth Investment Fund (NYIF)
What are the benefits of enrolling in the program
The eligibility criteria for NYIF
Eligible businesses
How to enroll for the program
Final note

What is the Nigerian Youth Investment Fund (NYIF)

The NYIF was initiated by the Federal Government of Nigeria to help mitigate poverty and assist youths in the country that have businesses by providing them with loans of different amount to help them grow their businesses.

The programme is a 75 billion naira worth of loan the government of Nigeria made especially for youths with businesses whether micro, small or medium scale enterprise and so it is aimed at investing in the innovative ideas, talent, skills and experience of young Nigerians and also turn them into successful entrepreneurs, wealth and job creators.

This is a wonderful program to help youths become self-employed and like we said earlier that it has been going on since 2020 and registration is still in progress. The Federal Ministry of Youth and Sport Developments in Nigeria have been charged with the responsibility of facilitating this empowerment programme.

Some people have faced difficulty in accessing the portal and it has been said that the portal has been closed for sometime but we bring you good news as it has been confirmed that the portal is now open and fully working and you can get the loan application form on the portal.

The portal to apply for the NYIF is www.youthandsport.gov.ng/apply and if you are not yet thinking in this direction, you should now as a lot of people are doing their best to become beneficiaries of this wonderful programme.

One interesting thing about this programme is that you can actually do your registration with your digital devices like smart phones, laptop, iPad etc. and so you don’t have to go anywhere to do your registration.

What Are The Benefits Of Enrolling For The Programme?

From the little we have said so far, you must have seen that the programme is very beneficial to you as a youth and if you are not satisfied with that, this section is going to highlight some benefits you stand to gain enrolling for the programme. Let’s look at these benefits…

You get to participate in empowerment programs and entrepreneurship training programs that the ministry organize
You will get digital training and pathways to enterprise through FMYSD and CBN led training opportunities.
You will get funding from financial institutions, venture capitalist and other public and private sector.
You will automatically have a business guarantor
You get access to first hand information on all youth entrepreneurship initiatives and programmes.
You enjoy unlimited marketing opportunities.

The Eligibility Criteria For NYIF

It is a youth empowerment programme and so not every Nigerian is eligible for the program and also not every youth is eligible for the programme as you will have to meet the eligibility criteria and this is what we will be highlighting shortly. Remember we promised to give you full details of the NYIF. So we will be dividing the eligibility criteria into two categories.

Let’s proceed…

Formal Business Enterprises (Youth Owned Enterprises)

Your business must be duly registered as a formal business enterprise with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC)
You must have training certificate from approved Federal Ministry of Youth and Sport Development (FMYSD) EDIs (Entrepreneurship Development Institutes)
You must present valid Bank Verification Number (BVN) of Directors and also Tax Identification Number (TIN).
You must provide business plan summary or completed questionnaire

Informal Business Enterprises (Individual and Sole Proprietors)

You must be a Nigerian youth and fall within the age of 18 and 35 years of age
You must have a functional business in Nigeria and if your business is unregistered, you can also apply
You must have a valid BVN
You must have a valid Local Government Indigene Certificate
You must have a clean criminal record and not being involved in any financial crime.

It is important to know that you can assess up to N250,000 if your business is not registered and if your business is registered, you can assess up to N3 million. The loan has an interest rate of 5% per annum and the repayment tenor is around 5 years with a moratorium (period of grace) of up to 12 months.

Eligible Business

If your business falls under any of the categories we will be highlighting below, then you qualify to apply for the NYIF. These businesses are:

Agriculture and related value chain
Creative sector
Construction
Logistics and supply chain
Healthcare value chain
Hospitality and tourism
Technology and innovation
Green Economy and Renewable Energy sector
Manufacturing and processing

Let’s look at some of the people that are not eligible for the NYIF so you cannot apply if you are:

A beneficiary of other government loan schemes that remain unpaid
A beneficiary of NMFB loans (such as Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) and Agribusiness/Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS) that remain unpaid.

What Are The Application Procedures?

You will have to visit the ministry’s website and fill the application form online at the youth investment fund application portal nyif.nmfb.com.ng based on information provided at noya.ng.

You should know that the application is totally free and so you are not expected to pay a dime to anyone and you can assess the application forms at the Nigeria Youth Investment Fund websites nyif.nmfb.com.ng and noya.ng (informational).

Let’s look at the following procedures on how you can apply for the NYIF:

Step 1: Get trained

For you to stand a chance, you must attend compulsory entrepreneurship training with an approved Entrepreneurship Development Institute under the FMYSD.

Step 2: Apply for loan

If you are successful in your training, you can proceed to NIRSAL Microfinance Bank (NMFB) portal to apply for the loan.

Step 3: Submit an Application

You can submit your application successfully on the NMFB’s portal if you are eligible to apply.

Step 4: Approval

The NMFB conducts loan assessment in line with Risk Assessment criteria and programme guideline. They make appropriate decision and forward recommended applications to CBN which is the highest financial institution in the country and they do the final approval.

Step 5: Disbursement

When CBN gets the recommendation, they will carry out reviews of the applications and after which they give final approval to NMFB to disburse the loans to the beneficiaries.

Final Note

From all we have said so far, you must have gotten full information on the Nigerian Youth Investment Fund and how you can apply for the programme successfully. The programmes is still ongoing and so discard any information that says it has stopped and check the ministry’s website to proceed with your application.