Dar es Salaam, March 07, 2016….The NMB Bank is expecting to double its number of business club members in the quest to bring services more close to the business community. This will improve business knowledge to the country’s Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s), Medium and Small Enterprises (SME).
NMB Business Clubs are intended to reach NMB’s Business Banking Clientele including both MSE and SME customer segments representing a total of 50,000 business banking customers throughout the country with a portfolio of over TZS300 Billion. It is an important tool for improving business knowledge to the country’s MSE and SME’s.
NMB has 34 Business Clubs countrywide with over 10,000 members who frequently benefit from trainings offered by NMB from record keeping, Marketing, Tax education with the help of TRA experts, Trade finance and forex while allowing them to network with each other.
Speaking to the gathering of over 300 Business Club Members in Kinondoni district, The NMB Acting Chief of Retail Banking – Abdulmajid Nsekela said NMB is fully committed to MSME business and strengthening interaction between NMB and its largest SME customers in the country.
“SME activities are extremely important, not just to NMB but to the country’s economy. The economy as a whole depends on the success of SME...we are proud that in the course of just a few years we were able to grow this business successfully from zero to where we consistently support some 50,000 MSME’s, nationwide” said Mr Nsekela.
Mr Nsekela added that “Business club represents 14% of NMB’s overall business and nothing is more rewarding than seeing micro enterprises grow with us, every year, bigger and bigger, and more successful and turn into real SME’s.”
In the NMB Business Clubs, members benefit from basic business training, capacity building, and networking opportunities. More than 10,000 customers have been trained so in the present are 34 NMB Business Clubs countrywide.
The Kinondoni District Commissioner – Hon. Paul Makonda reiterated the government’s commitment to help the banking sector and create a favorable condition for more SME customers to join business clubs as it is instrumental for their business growth.
“What you are doing today has a significant impact to the country’s development, as I am told that through these clubs, business members get tax education, this is critically important as it will prepare Tanzanians to be tax payers than seeing Tax as a punishment,” Said Mr Makonda.
The 5th Government has a zero tolerance to tax evasion; I call upon other financial institutions to learn from NMB as doing that, we will push the wheels of development of this country.
Last year, NMB received a loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) worth $92million to support micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Tanzania. This will help the bank provide medium-term loans to MSMEs in the country. Apart from the loan, EIB is also helping NMB to train Business Clubs and help them grow their business while getting their financial help from NMB.
