Women’s Bank seeks to fund 10 000 projects

The Zimbabwe Women’s Microfinance Bank (ZWMB) closed 2022 with a core capital of US$2,1 million and seeks to fund at least 10 000 projects as part of the institution’s women empowerment initiative.

Since its inception, the women’s bank has provided loans for over 114 000 projects predominantly fronted by women across the country and has indicated that it will continue to economically and socially empower females.

In financial results for the year ended 31 December 2022, ZWMB chief executive officer Dr Mandas Marikanda said the financial institution’s strategy is to broaden its financial services in a bid to have all women to continue to have equal access to resources and assets and financial literacy.

Added to that, she said the bank seeks to ensure that women have access to a bank account and skills for capacitation in all sectors of the economy.
She said this is evidenced by the value of costs and the number of women capacitated.

According to the financial results, on financial inclusion impact, 13 764 jobs were created in the period under review and 18 259 jobs were sustained.

“The Microfinance Bank has planned for 10 000 disbursements according to the available resources with the hope of trebling resources permitting,” said Dr Marikanda.

The bank is meant to support women-driven projects.

Over the years, women have complained of being marginalised when it comes to accessing loans for projects due to the stringent collateral security requirement by local financial institutions.

Dr Marikanda added that with the agency banking model, the microfinance bank has managed to maintain and achieve a broader geographical footprint with 91 service points.

However, the financial institution’s ambition is to expand to all provinces, districts, wards and villages, she noted. To aid in the expansion of its footprint, Dr Marikanda said funds permitting, the institution will continue to invest in digitalisation which in turn should result in a positive customer experience by increasing transaction channel options.

“The Microfinance Bank will strategically position itself to leverage on new opportunities and seek appropriate business partnerships, empower employees with new skills and develop and maintain new product lines.”

As of 31 December 2022, the bank had a core capital of $1,5 billion equivalent to US$2,1 million and efforts are being made to capitalise the financial institution to meet the regulatory requirement. In 2018, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) licensed and authorised the Women’s Microfinance Bank to conduct deposit-taking microfinance business. The licensing and authorisation was in line with the Microfinance Act (Chapter 24:29).

The bank is meant to empower women by ensuring they access money at concessionary rates.-chronicle