While we are all striving to return to life, as usual, many businesses have been seriously affected by the pandemic. As such, they require all kinds of support to beat the effects of the pandemic on their economy. One such support is coming from Facebook.
Yes, Facebook is providing post-COVID-19 support to small businesses around the world. The company announced in August that it was making N500m in grants available to 781 SMEs in Nigeria.
About the Facebook Business Grants
Earlier in the year, Sheryl Sandberg, the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook announced that the company was launching a grant program. She made the announcement through her Facebook account saying that it was clear that many businesses were seeking help at this time. As part of Facebook’s contribution to helping SMEs around the world, the company was planning a massive grant. The sum of $100 million will be distributed to 30,000 businesses across the globe.
Asides from this grant, Facebook was also making efforts to help businesses. Some of these efforts include hosting virtual training sessions for business owners.
Facebook Small Business Grant Eligibility
a. The business must be a registered business.
b. It must have been in operation for at least a year. This means that it must have been existing before the pandemic.
c. The business must have a minimum of two employees and a maximum of 50 employees.
d. There must be proof of experiencing challenges resulting from COVID-19.
e. Be in a location that Facebook operates (or at least, be in close proximity to such location).
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For a huge project like this, Facebook will need the help of several bodies to implement the grants. For Nigeria, Facebook will be working in conjunction with Deloitte who will administer and manage the process.
In turn, Deloitte will be in partnership with Afrigrants and FATE Foundation. The grant will be provided in form of cash to small businesses. Also, ad credits will be provided to SMEs as they continue the rebuilding process. The aim is to enable businesses to re-engineer their processes and recover business operations to see them throughout the year.
How to apply for the Facebook Small Business Grant
Step 1 – Go to the official application website for the Facebook Small Business Grant.
Step 2 – Scroll to the “how to apply” section. After this, go to “Where is your business located?” Then click on the dropdown menu to select your country.
Step 3 – After selecting your country, scroll down and click “Continue to the Partner site.”
Step 4 – Make sure that you read through the content on this page and scroll straight down to the bottom. Click on Apply.
Step 5 – You will be redirected to an application page. Here, you will need to provide answers to a short eligibility quiz. Answering these questions will lead you to the registration page for the SME grant.
Step 6 – Here, you will be required to provide a password for your application account. This password must be approved by the installed password strength checker before you can move on.
Step 7 – After you are done with the registration and it is successful, you will get a message. The message reads thus “Your registration request has been submitted to the Small Business Grants Program administrator. It is still awaiting approval. Thank you.”
Step 8 – Once your application is approved, you can go ahead to apply for the Facebook Small Business Grant.
Congratulations! You now know how to apply for the Facebook SME grants but that’s not all.
Facebook Small Business Grant Documentation
Below are the documents you need to apply for the Facebook Small Business Grant:
a. Latest annual return in PDF format.
b. Business license or business registration.
c. Partnership agreement ( if your business is running on a partnership).
d. Financial statements for 2019 (also in PDF format).
While these are the documents you need for the initial application, you may be required to provide others later.
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a. The volume of applications from Nigeria is very high. Because of this, if the application link isn’t working, leave it for a while and check back later.
b. Government officials or their relatives cannot apply for this grant. There is a section in the application form requiring you to provide this information. To learn more about this grant, click here.
There are many advantages that SMEs in Nigeria will enjoy from the Facebook Small Business Grant. Examples include funding operational and rent needs, payment of your workforce, and also connecting to customers. Don’t forget that you can also access additional resources from Facebook even when the grant is over.