Ruth Zaipuna, the bank’s chief executive, told Second Vice President Hemed Suleiman Abdulla that the platform will be used for lending and financial education programs, using its vast network and innovation to ensure young people of Zanzibar are proficient in cash flow management.

The banking solutions platform was launched at Forodhani in Unguja, with the main guest expressing the sentiment that the investment was a game-changer to address development challenges.

Profiling the new initiative, the CEO said the product can make a huge difference in the lives of young people across Tanzania, as a platform for empowerment and an avenue for networking.

The platform is specifically designed to serve young people, who make up 64% of the country’s population, an invaluable growth asset that needs to be money-savvy to engage digitally, she said.

The platform offers many empowerment opportunities for young people such as motorcycle loans, boat loans, financial education and literacy in the use of the bank’s digital services, focusing on quick loan facilities by application of mobile phone or banking agents.

Mobile app loans range up to 500,000/- with agency banking creating hundreds of jobs for young people by pledging to facilitate money transfers, deposits etc.

Financial inclusion training, free mobile phone insurance and participation in networking events like student conferences and entrepreneurship training are all among the platform’s innovations, he said. she declared.

The bank’s initiative will complement the government’s efforts to improve financial inclusion for young people, Vice President Abdulla said, the initiative is a noble idea that bodes well for the Zanzibar government’s plans to address the challenges faced by young people. young people by engaging constructively in nation-building efforts.

Its introduction was timely and a worthwhile investment as empowering young people helps tackle the huge burden of unemployment in Zanzibar’s economy, he said, noting that financial education in Zanzibar stands at less than 30%.

The platform will also help address the challenge of sources of capital for young people to create jobs for themselves and their peers, he affirmed, applauding NMB for its initiative to turn youth into a generation financially. disciplined.

“This platform is in line with our vision to promote self-reliance through entrepreneurship,” he said, noting that youth unemployment is a global problem with a large portion of young people not occupying no formal jobs and lack of start-up capital for usable businesses. ideas.

Zanzibar’s government under President Hussein Ali Mwinyi is committed to improving financial literacy at the local level, creating more jobs and broadening the revenue base, he added.

Rashid Simai Msaraka, the Zanzibar Urban District Commissioner, said the platform comes at a time when many people in Zanzibar are exposed to malicious pyramid schemes and loan sharks who charge unwarranted interest rates on loans.

“NMB has finally introduced products that can offer financial solutions at slightly cheaper interest rates without going through traditional banking systems,” enthused the DC.

The platform was first launched in Dar es Salaam last year, with Patrobas Katambi, the deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Office for youth affairs, officiating.