Small and medium businesses in Malawi can heave a sigh of relief in their search for capital injection as NBS Bank is introducing a new product specifically for them.

The new facility, dubbed Zayela Business Loan, is a scheme where NBS Bank will be financing working capital and investment requirements for qualifying Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the country.

According to NBS Bank, the facility aims at increasing access to capital at a lower interest rate to SMEs thereby addressing the challenge of lack of access to capital at affordable rates by most such businesses.  

NBS Bank Head of Marketing and Customer Experience, Tamanda Longwe, said the Bank has introduced the product taking advantage of its wide reach, which also entails a large SMEs base that could benefit from it.

“Our wide presence across the country positions NBS Bank well to reach out to as many SME customers across the country. This will also enable the Bank to reach out to women, youth and businesses in various districts,” Longwe said.

Even better, Zayela Business Loan also caters for SME customers who are not banking with NBS Bank. Longwe said the facility offers such SMEs an opportunity to engage with the Bank on how they too can benefit.

“This facility also directly speaks to the banks purpose of transforming lives. We do expect significant improvement in all our customers lives once they access this facility,” she said.

 Zayela Business Loan is targeting SMEs, a sector which is predominantly informal businesses in Malawi. But NBS Bank hopes that such SMEs will take advantage of the loan scheme and formalise their businesses so that they can access the loans.

“Many SMEs in the informal sector do not have incentives to formalise because of the high cost of doing business, lack of access to capital and high cost of borrowing. Since this facility will increase access to capital and significantly reduce the cost of borrowing, it is an incentive for businesses to formalize and benefit from this facility. This will in turn increase economic activity and speaks to the financial inclusion agenda being pursued by the Bank,” Longwe said.

Zayela Business Loan facility adds to the Bank’s lending products portfolio aimed at increasing access of credit to customers for them to participate in the economy.

Getting its name from the popular terminology “Zanga Zayela” [things are well with me, in literal translation], the scheme allows beneficiaries to access as much as K25 million. The repayment period ranges between 36 months to 60 months at the interest rate of 9 percent per annum.

This project is being implemented by the Malawi government with funding from the World Bank.

By Ernest Mwale, a Contributor

NBS Bank says it is delighted to have been a part of the history-making Area 18 Interchange in Lilongwe, the first landmark of its kind in Malawi.

In an exclusive interview, NBS Bank Chief Executive Officer Kwanele Ngwenya said as a Malawian Bank, NBS Bank is passionate about the development of the nation.

“And we love to see the country taking positive strides to achieve this. We always endeavour to align our business model to complement the goals of the nation so that the Bank contributes to the sustainable economic development of this country,” he said.

For the interchange, NBS Bank assisted in the financing of the project through a bid bond worth K14 billion offered to the Roads Fund Administration (RFA).

“For NBS Bank to emerge the financier for this project, we submitted our bid, together with other banks, and the institution with the competitive bid emerged successful.

“The bond was offered at competitive rates to ensure that RFA minimises its funding costs while the bank covers its operating margin,” he said.

Ngwenya said the Bank is looking forward to more participation in infrastructure and development generally in Malawi.

He said NBS Bank values its role in enabling  access to financial services. This, Ngwenya said, is key to promote growth opportunities, such as industrialisation, social welfare, entrepreneurship and diversification in sectors agriculture.

“We, therefore, have a unique offering and business solutions that cater for our SMEs and corporate organisations alike, to enhance their businesses and thereby contribute to the success of our Malawian economy,” he said.

It looks like the pioneering four-lane Area 18 Interchange has inspired more such constructions in Lilongwe as a similar project, a 6-lane stretch, is also taking place on Kenyatta Drive.

In the years to come, there will certainly be more of such pieces of fine infrastructure.

But even after hundreds of years and hundreds of such infrastructure in the country, history shall say that Area 18 Interchange blazed the trail of modern highway construction in Malawi.

And NBS Bank has its name engraved on this development. 

As the Sand Music festival gets underway this weekend, revellers have their finances sorted as Standard Bank ambassadors will be on the beach connecting them to their digital banking platform, Unayo.

The bank has sponsored the festival to the tune of K9 million to help with organisation and give patrons a wonderful experience.

Head of Platform Business at Standard Bank, Effie Malange, said the contribution is in line with the bank’s philosophy of supporting and driving growth of all undertakings by Malawians.

“Standard Bank is sponsoring this year’s Sand Music Festival to engage with fun-seeking Malawians and support the growth of music and arts industry in the country. This way, we will be fulfilling our promise of finding new ways to make dreams possible for all Malawian artists,” she said.

Malange added that “as a brand whose purpose is to drive the growth of our home Malawi, we believe that music and arts are key industries in economic growth in terms of job creation, services and tourism.”

Speaking on behalf of the organizers, musician Wendy Harawa commended Standard Bank for the gesture.

“This sponsorship is really a big push in our quest to deliver a world-class festival. The money will help a lot to meet the costs that we incur before the festival like flights, hotel bookings and stage equipment among others,” she said.

…Mother’s Day is coming up, and we’re hoping for a bit of a change this year (like being able to see our mums in person

To celebrate Mother’s Day, MultiChoice will be running a competition to spoil customers and their mums with a Mother’s Day luncheon and limited edition 25th anniversary merchandise with the purchase of a GOtv decoder in the month of October.

“As we celebrate 25 years of Sankha Wekha we want to ensure we include our customers in this celebration, because they continue to choose us, we choose to celebrate our 25th anniversary milestone and Mother’s Day with them through these special offers”, Gus Banda, Managing Director, MultiChoice Malawi.

Eight lucky customers will be selected by random draw to stand a chance to win an invitation to the MultiChoice Malawi Mother’s Day Luncheon, where they will be accompanied by their mum, to enjoy a day of pampering and delicious treats.

To enter, customers can simply comment their active IUC numbers under the competition post which will go live on the @DStvMW and @GOtvMW Facebook pages. The competition will run from 29 September 2021 to 11 October 2021.

As an additional treat, customers will received limited edition 25th Anniversary MultiChoice merchandise with every GOtv decoder purchase, throughout the month of October, dubbed as GOtv Mother’s Month from 1 – 15 October 2021, valid in all Shoprite stores.

Manage your DStv and GOtv subscription easily through the MyDStv and MyGOtv apps, available for download via iOS and Android now also enabled with VISA payment so you can remain active and join in the celebrations.