‘My School Plus’ – The Results of Two Rounds of Lending to Private Schools Under ACCION’s Subsidized Loan Schemes

This report aims to shed light on how private schools, and especially low-fee private schools, manage to cope with borrowing money and repaying loans with interest made by Accion, a licensed micro-finance bank operating in Nigeria. Products were designed especially for schools, including “My School Plus”, aimed at all school types, including low-fee and unapproved schools. The repayment schedule was modelled around the school year with repayments being linked to school teaching terms rather than fixed monthly payments. The interest rate was capped at a maximum of 9%, however some additional fees also applied. Two further products were also designed: ‘My School Extra’, and ‘My SME Educational Loan’. The second scheme offers a slightly higher yet still subsidized rate, while the third scheme uses close to the standard market interest rate