NMB dishes out 1.8tri/- in loans to women SMEs

DAR ES SALAAM: NMB Bank has dished out over 1.8tri/- to 168,600 women Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) during the first 10 months this year, the bank’s Chief Shared Services, Nenyuata Mejooli said over the weekend.

Speaking during a women networking event in Dar es Salaam, she said provision of the funds aligns with the bank’s ambitious strategy to enhance women’s economic empowerment across the country.

“At NMB bank, we are committed to bridge the financial inclusion gap and we will continue to work towards our aspiration by extending banking services to the under-banked across the country including women.

So far this year, we have already opened 2.3 million accounts for women this year,” said Mejooli.

Ms Mejooli said that as part of fulfilling its commitment to women empowerment, her bank in November 2020, launched its ‘Jasiri Bond’ preposition, a platform that seeks to empower and drive financial inclusion for women across various sectors not only in Tanzania but Sub-Saharan Africa as well.

“The proceedings of the bond aimed at providing affordable financing to women-led businesses and businesses that directly affect women,” she added.

Ms Mejooli noted that the bank will continue rolling out financial literacy campaigns across the country as part of its efforts to build capacity for various groups including women.

The NMB Bank Head of Business Alex Mgeni during the event noted that the bank has already embarked on plans to establish a national women database so as to ensure that it provides tailor-made banking services to women across various sectors.

“We have already identified some of the key sectors and our quest is to ensure that we bring on board all the women in our database.

This database will ensure that we provide both tailor-made and timely banking services to women,” Mgeni said.