Women’s Breakfast Recap, Financial Inclusion
On the 25th of November, we hosted our breakfast meeting at Cresta Oasis with the theme “Women Leading Total Transformation in Zimbabwe” sponsored by Old Mutual and NMB Bank.
We started off with a talk on how women can lead transformation by Priscilla Munyeza, Marketing Director of AFC Land and Development Bank. There are three levels where women can lead transformation which are the household, the community and the nation and there’s no level at which you’re too small to make a difference. Though you might not be a leader, you can still be a good listener.
She then left 5 tips on running your own race, which are:
- Avoid comparing yourself to others. Rather than comparing yourself others, compare yourself to who you were yesterday. Track your goals and achievements no matter how small.
- Define what success looks like to you. Success doesn’t have to mean being in high status positions. Even leading a humble life can be success if you define it as such. For Priscilla it means being at peace personally and relationship-wise. IT also extends to knowing that her children are doing well.
- Some rules are mean to be broken. Some say that women aren’t supposed to be in certain positions of authority—they’re wrong. Don’t be afraid to take on the challenge.
- Trust in the Lord and commit your passion into what you want to achieve.
- Be a vocarious reader.
After Priscilla we heard from our founder Edna Mukurazhizha on how SACCO is helping to achieve financial inclusion. Just before her talk, we heard from her daughter Charmaine on how she started an organization to uplift young women on social media who are otherwise bombarded with social comparisons.
Edna started her talk by challenging the various banks and RBZ on how they can help the next generation achieve financial inclusion. As she’d just received her doctorate from Hawaii having done a dissertation on financial inclusion, she emphasized the power of financial inclusion which boils down to wealth providing options through financial independence.
To achieve financial independence, one must obtain seven streams of income:
- earned income,
- business income,
- dividends income,
- income from royalties,
- capital gains income,
- interest income and
- rental income.
As SACCO we provide the opportunity to earn dividends income through our shares and interest income through our savings. As well as the ability to earn business and capital gains income through our loans facility, we are also opening an online store for our members to sell their wares abroad where fresh and healthy food might not be readily available.
Along with our financial products, we also provide capacity building workshops for our members to level up their skills. We also host exposure tours abroad to places like Dubai and the United States so you can see what’s out there besides bathing in a bucket and dodging potholes to get to work.
Finishing off, she charged us to look into how we can make a difference as well as not to settle for living paycheck to paycheck and to continuously be grateful to God. We’re also expanding to Zambia soon so watch out for that.
Next we heard from Lillian Mbayiwa on the work Old Mutual does to drive financial inclusion. As they’re ahead of their time regarding innovation, they’ve been involved with financial services such as insurance, funeral schemes, microfinance, investment, financial advice as well as banking. As the youth are important to the development of Zimbabwe, Old Mututal are looking at how they can encourage collaboration through their Eight2Five Innovation Hub and Incubator.
Finishing off, Lillian told us of the progress Zimbabwe has made in achieving gender equality. As she was once the only board woman at Exco in 2011, the board is now 50:50 in terms of gender, though as Zimbabwe is at 52% women, the 2% is still outstanding! As we’re achieving gender equality, we shouldn’t forget about the men, however.
We then heard from Mrs. Saungweme from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe on the progress they’ve made at achieving financial inclusion in Zimbabwe. On a personal level, she mentors the children she picks up on the way to work and she asked us how we can alter our live story. Off the heels of their second Financial Inclusion Strategy from 2022–2026 [PDF, 1.97MB], it was interesting to note that 60% of Zimbabwe’s GDP is from SMEs and of that 60% are owned by women (where women are 54% of Zimbabwe’s population now).
She then outlines how RBZ aims to improve financial inclusion through the following initiatives:
- A collateral registry for movable assets which will help women obtain loans,
- implementing KYC,
- banking services interoperability,
- the SMEs forex auction,
- a credit guarantee schemme and
- attempting to formalize women’s ownership in businesses.
Finishing off, she encouraged us to read the financial inclusion strategy, improve management skills so you aren’t stereotyped, elevate women through social media and in general. Also there are some new terms for some of the businesses women run. For instance, a tuck shop is now known as a “micro retailer”.
For the last presentation we heard from Michelle of NMB on how they’re working on improving financial inclusion. They’re strategy involves providing women with various resources like an accounts relationship manager as well as advice on ensuring fiscal compliance. She also encourages more women to purchase gold coins as a form of savings, much like how jewelry is used as savings in other cultures.
Women’s Breakfast Recap, Financial Inclusion
To those who came we thank you. If you are interested in becoming a SACCO member or attending events like these, contact us at +263 242 702 600 or +263 733 251 769.
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