How to Apply for N1 billion Lagos State Seed Capital for Businesses through the Palliative Eligibility Form

Businesses in the Tourism, Hospitality and Entertainment sectors can now apply for the N1 billion Lagos state seed capital investment through the Palliative Eligibility Form.

Designed by the Lagos State Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, the form is an online gateway to facilitate applications from qualified businesses affected by the shutdown of the tourism, hospitality and creative arts sectors following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mrs. Uzamat Akinbile-Yussuf stated that the online eligibility form has been made available to verify eligible businesses and aid the effective distribution of credit funding.

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Eligibility

To be eligible for the funding, business owners must reside within Lagos and be registered with the Lagos State Residents Registration Agency (LASRRA). The seed capital is only available to tourism, hospitality and entertainment-related businesses.

Interested businesses must be registered with the Lagos State Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture and have been in operation for at least one year.

Also, applicants should possess evidence of tax compliance for each financial year between 2016 and 2019 and may be members of an association in their sector. Businesses intending to apply for term and production loans within the SME category must be registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

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Two (2) guarantors with a sizable income are required for term/production loans within the SME category. For term loans in the ME category, one of the two (2) guarantors must be an Association.

Businesses applying for these loans must operate a hub, incubator or similar facilities that support the development of emerging or existing talent within the Entertainment, Tourism and Hospitality sectors in Lagos State.

For the production loan, businesses must possess work experience in cinematic production. All applicants require two passport photographs.

How to Apply

Here’s how to apply for the N1 billion Lagos state seed capital for businesses.

1. Apply through the Palliative Eligibity Form

To begin your application, log on to the Lagos state palliative eligibility form on your mobile phone or computer. Asterisked (*) sections are required. Scroll down to continue.

2. Enter Business Name and Upload Passport

At this stage, fill in the name of your business and input your unique taxpayer identity code issued by the Lagos Internal Revenue Service.

From the drop-down menu, select the nature of your business – Sole proprietorship, Partnership or Corporate. Also, enter your email address and phone number.

Upload a copy of your passport photograph then proceed.

3. Input CAC and LASRRA Registration Numbers

Enter your CAC registration number and choose the sector your business falls under – Hospitality, Tourism, Entertainment, Creative Arts or Cinema.

Fill in the name of an association your business belongs to and also enter your Lagos State Residents Registration Agency (LASRRA) number and address of business location.

From the calendar icon, choose the date when your business commenced operations.

4. Fill in CAC Certificate Number and Date

Type in your CAC Certificate of Incorporation Number, the 7-digit number after the “RC”. Select the date on the certificate.

Upload a photo evidence of your business’ registration with the Lagos state Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture and proceed to the last stage.

5. Upload Copies of Tax Clearance Documents

Here, upload the photo proofs of stamped tax remittance documents for the financial years 2016-2017, 2017-2018 and 2018-2019.

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Ensure that the pictures are clear enough to be perused.

Click “Submit” to finish. Upon submitting your application, the system will generate a unique code. Note the code and keep for reference as this is only the first stage of the application.