NBS, IFC in women business promotion - 21/07/2009

NBS Bank has teamed up with the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank in a programme aimed at promoting women-owned businesses in the country. NBS Bank Branch Manager for Lilongwe Mercy Haja disclosed this in Lilongwe this week when the bank held a three-day business training workshop for women entrepreneurs. Under the facility, women entrepreneurs who are customers of the bank are being trained in business management and those who manage to come up with viable business plans and proposals after the training are given loans.

"We believe that we can have a lot of successful businesses in the country if more women ran their own. Women are more disciplined and they have the potential to build better business if well supported," said Kara. She said apart from providing women with business management skills, the workshops are also meant to promote networking among women entrepreneurs in the country to enable them share experiences. "Please, take this opportunity to learn from each other. Get contacts of your friends here and start talking," said Kara. She said since the programme started several years ago/a lot of women have managed to transform their business and are now running some of the most outstanding businesses in the country.

Training facilitator for the workshop Towera Jalakasi said the focus of the programme is to help women create efficient, sustainable and profitable businesses for women in the country. Jalakasi said women are capable of transforming the country's economy through entrepreneurship. According to NBS Research Manager Esnat Nchembe, IFC and NBS Bank Limited engaged in a financing and advisory services partnership in August 2007. "These are commercial loans because it's a loan agreement whereby NBS Bank is expected to pay back," Nchembe said. She said IFC provided a loan of USD 3 million to NBS Bank, as well as advisory services aimed at supporting NBS Bank to extend its SME loan portfolio. "As part of this engagement IFC's Gender Entrepreneurship Markets (GEM) program is committed to supporting NBS Bank to establish a Women Entrepreneurs Program," said Chembe. The workshop has attracted 33 women from Lilongwe city.

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