NMB Bank’s chief human resources officer Emmanuel Akonaay (right) speaks during the Finance2Equal breakfast meeting organised by the IFC in Dar es Salaam yesterday. With him is Standard Chartered Bank’s chief executive officer Herman Kasekende. PHOTo | COURTESY
Dar es Salaam. NMB Bank assured the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the general public that gender equality remained an important factor in its operational tenets.
The bank said it had undertaken several initiatives meant to extend affordable financing for women-owned or women-controlled enterprises during the past few months.
NMB Bank’s chief human resources officer Emmanuel Akonaay said during the Finance2Equal breakfast meeting organised by the IFC in Dar es Salaam yesterday.
He said it was due to the banks commitment to gender equality that in February this year, the lender issued a special bond [known as Jasiri Bond] which raised at least Sh74.2 billion.
The move, he said was to make it affordable to finance women-owned or women-controlled enterprises and/or businesses whose products or services directly impact a woman.
“To promote women involvement in agriculture, livestock keeping, mining and the blue economy, NMB Bank set aside Sh100 billion special fund for Agriculture Value Chain Financing, offering loans at a rate not exceeding 10 per cent per annum,” Mr Akonaay said.
Mr Akonaay who represented the bank’s chief executive officer (CEO) Ruth Zaipuna at the event, added, “The bank also topped up the fund with a second special fund of Sh100 billion currently offering loans at a rate of less than 9 per cent per annum.”
According to him, without gender-inclusive growth, achieving long-term economic resilience is and would remain a dream. Various research shows that closing gender gaps can stimulate growth, strengthen macroeconomic and financial stability, and reduce income inequality.
At NMB Bank, he said, ensuring gender balance was a top priority which made the bank to partner with IFC for the initiative.
He said as of June this year, the bank’s Jasiri proposition, which caters to financial needs of different categories of women, had already availed loans to at least 1,483 women-owned businesses across all regions worth Sh35 billion.
Earlier, the Tanzania’s IFC’s resident representative Frank Ajilore said investing in women in terms of employment, leadership and innovation was vital as women contributed alot to economic resilience.
For instance, he said, in the past few years, 150 IFC banking clients found out that women Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) had a non performing loans (NPLs) of 3.6 per cent compared to 4.5 per cent in the total loan portfolio. “Never the less, women continue to lag behind men in tapping economic opportunities,” he said.
He said IFC had invested in the first gender bond issued by NMB bank this year in Tanzania, saying empowering women helped to reduce the poverty gaps.
Presenting Finance2Equal Report findings, the IFC Gender Specialist, Ms Anna Casanova said a survey that was carried out by IFC revealed that women contributed alot in enhancing operations and business competitiveness.
“We saw improvement in terms of gender balance from 48 per cent to 49 per cent and that companies were keen for a gender-balanced workforce,” she said.
No comments :
Post a Comment