Zanaco drives financial inclusion by taking banking services to communities

Zanaco says it’ll leverage its growing agency banking model and its various electronic banking platforms to grow into the top transactional bank in Zambia by 2020.

Managing Director and CEO Henk Mulder said through Zanaco Xpress Agency banking, the bank had delivered its services to peoples’ doorsteps in the communities around the country. He said this at the official handover of booths for Zanaco Xpress Agency banking to Ms Melody Mwenda, one of the top female Zanaco Xpress agents.

“As Zanaco, we have partnered with a large number of entrepreneurs located in our communities both in urban and rural areas to make Zanaco Xpress work. With a Zanaco visa electron debit card, customers can deposit or withdraw cash using the Zanaco point of sale terminal at Zanaco agent outlets located right within our communities, without necessarily having to visit a branch or ATM,” Mr Mulder said.

“Customers are able to save on travel costs and time to get access to their bank accounts while agents have increased income through commission and increased customer traffic hence more business to their outlets,” he added.

Mr Mulder said the Zanaco Xpress model had worked very well with the total number of monthly transactions increased by 122% between January 2017 and January 2018 while monthly commission paid to agents had also grown from K788,579 to over K1.3 million during the same period. He said the number of agents had also grown by 100% over the last one year to reach 800.

The recipient of the booths, Ms Mwenda, thanked Zanaco for empowering her business –  Ethaleni Solutions Ltd – with the five booths, which she said would grow her business significantly. With her two current outlets, Ms Mwenda has shown her desire to succeed in conducting her Zanaco Xpress Business.

Zanaco Board Chairperson Ms Charity Lumpa said the bank recognised the vital role that women played in the economy as consumers, investors and job-creating entrepreneurs. She, however, said although women made up the majority of the adult population in the urban area of Zambia, most of them fell outside the financial inclusion brackets.

 “Zanaco is your partner for growth, and part of this growth lies in empowering entrepreneurs to maximise their potential. The bank’s promise to its customers is to grow people, businesses and the economy,” she said.

“We recognise the importance of improving the levels of financial inclusion in Zambia and one of the ways we have achieved this is through the Zanaco Xpress agent banking model, which goes a long way in meeting the challenges of access to financial services.”

Ms Lumpa paid gratitude to Ms Mwenda for her hard work, adding that the booths she had received were a recipe for growth to help her increase revenues from the Zanaco Xpress agency business.

In addition to the benefits accruing from being a Zanaco Xpress agent, Ms Mwenda will have a relationship manager under the Commercial Banking segment of the bank to help her manage her SME business.​

Source: Zanaco