Barclays Bank’s 2.4bn/- investment on creation of financial literacy countrywide has started paying off, with some individuals already transformed into bankable entrepreneurs.
However, the beneficiaries remained concerned with concentration of financial services in urban centres, asking financial institutions to expand their services to remote areas to rescue some wananchi from the risks of transferring money long distances.
Barclays Bank Head of Corporate Affair Kati Kerenge said during the field visits to the Banking on Change (BoC) project in Kibaha and Mlandizi in Coast region that the bank was considering initiating mobile banking to facilitate customers where financial services are inaccessible.
“Establishing a new branch is expensive and time consuming but mobile banking could be the most appropriate mechanism for the time being,” remarked Ms Kerenge. Under BoC, a joint micro-finance initiative that focuses on savings-led micro-finance, a total of 2,400 village savings and loans associations (VSLAs) are to be created by the end of July 2012, reaching at least 60,000 beneficiaries in Tanzania.
The BoC is also operational in Geita, Mwanza, Ifakara, Kisarawe and Dar Urban. The BoC project is a result of joint initiative by Barclays Bank, Plan UK and CARE International to bring together the independent interests of each partner, improve the quality of life for poor people by extending and developing access to basic financial services.
Ms Kerenge said the three years of BoC project has become successful but also an important mechanism in the war against abject poverty with most families coming up with new sources of income generation that has enhanced the level of their living standards.
During the visits, the appraisal programme of the joint microfinance initiative was graced by the Barclays Bank Retail and Business Banking’s Corporate Affairs Director, Ms Catharine French, as well as CARE International UK Chief Executive Officer, Mr Geoffrey Dennis and the CEO of Plan UK, Ms Marie Staunton.
The Economic and Planning Secretary Ms Frieda Gongi in the Input Marketing Associations (IMAs) in Mlandizi in the Coast Region pleaded with Barclays Bank management to consider establishing a branch or introducing mobile banking services to reduce risks encountered in the transferring process.
She however said the initiative has changed their lives and have managed to establish small scale businesses as necessary sources to meet family obligations like school fees, food and accessing health facilities. The initiative focuses on savings-led micro-finance and demonstrates the new model of partnership between the public, private and non-profit sectors that is needed to meet developmental challenges.
By SEBASTIAN MRINDOKO, Tanzania Daily News
