Plan International Malawi adds credence to benefits of Mpamba Mudzi Wathu Village Bank innovation for the unbanked rural masses

Country Director Phoebe Kasoga addressing the gathering

* The good news is that we have organizations like TNM who are partnering with us to uplift women

* In coming up with services on the grassroots that are assisting women to access services like e-banking and credit

By Duncan Mlanjira

As TNM Plc continues its launching and marketing of the Mpamba Mudzi Wathu Village Bank, Plan International Malawi has thrown its weight on the benefits of enhancing the e-commerce  innovation, saying the service will take financial inclusion to great heights — more especially amongst women.

Country Director Phoebe Kasoga said this in Kasungu when TNM Mpamba Limited — the wholly owned subsidiary of TNM Plc, enhanced the innovation’s community launch at Chatoloma that promotes a culture of saving by people in rural areas.

“Elsewhere in Africa, the model has proved to be an effective tool for driving financial inclusion and economic empowerment,” Kasoga said. “We are therefore required to build trust so that women in Malawi can understand that the service by TNM can make their lives better.” Kasoga.

Appreciating the impact of the product, Kasoga said called for intensive awareness of Mudzi Wathu Village Bank to enhance its adoption.

“There is a need to generate enough resources to be able to train women for them to understand the meaning of digital capabilities and ensuring that the product delivers best value in their lives,” she said.

The Mpamba Mudzi Wathu Village Bank community launch follows its unveiling during the 1st Generation Equality Conference in Lilongwe on April 16, 2022 hosted by former President Joyce Banda, who is a prominent Pan African women’s rights activist.

At that official launch, the country’s first female Head of State acknowledged TNM’s role in supporting government’s efforts in women empowerment and called for haste initiatives to redeem rural women from abject poverty.

She had said: “Here in Malawi, 85% of women are living in abject poverty. While the government is doing its part, some of us must go around and make sure that we empower rural communities.

“The good news is that we have organizations like TNM who are partnering with us to uplift women,” she said, while applauding TNM for coming up with products and services that aim at enhancing financial inclusion among women.

“TNM is doing a recommendable job in coming up with services on the grassroots that are assisting women to access services like e-banking and credit,” she said.

At the community launch in Kasungu, TNM Plc Chief Executive Officer Arnold Mbwana told the gathering that Mpamba Mudzi Wathu Village Bank is a mobile technology financial tool that will broaden inclusion and participation of rural people in the mainstream of financial services ecosystems.

“Mobile technology is the new bridge connecting community development to financial services to catalyze social-economic development of rural and remote areas,” he said.

“With Mpamba Mudzi Wathu Village Bank, TNM is introducing e-Commerce to the unbanked and under-banked — while offering both security and convenience to savings groups to meet their development needs.”

He added that the Mpamba-based group Village Bank service will migrate rudimental savings and lending from traditional to digitally-enabled platforms with enhanced safety and transactability for cash.

On his part, TNM Mpamba Ltd General Manager, Chris Sukasuka said the service will bring equity in financial inclusion.

“The service breaks geographic barriers ensuring that both urban and rural people get equal access to financial services and benefit equally from the diversity of new financial technologies,” he said.

Chairperson for Kawiya Village Bank, Loveness Nyirenda is optimistic that the service will secure their club’s money, saying the Mudzi Wathu Village Bank “has come at a right time when groups are searching for ways to improve safety of savings”.

“The challenge we have been encountering in keeping cash has been sorted with the product,” she said.

During the official launch, Sukasuka unveiled that the e-wallet has been designed to respond to the needs of savings groups such as village banks in the provision of safety for their money.

“Group savings is a novel but proven approach to uplifting millions of people out of poverty,” he had said. “The challenge is that cash is risky, and the group’s success can be tempting thieves and individuals who can run away with their savings funds. We have established the wallet to enhance safety.”

Many village banks and savings groups have been defrauded by people entrusted to manage their financial affairs by robbing all the money saved and bolting to other countries especially South Africa.

Having depleted the funds, some have returned home and went into hiding while others were tracked and brought out for justice but their cases always fell apart because the village bank was not properly legalised.

Thus Sukasuka said the group wallet innovation is set to enable savings groups to create digital identity and enhance formal financial inclusion while improving transparency.

“The digital savings wallet will help groups to provide statement of transactional activities thereby improving accuracy of records. Furthermore, it is more controlled as two individuals are required to initiate wallet transactions,” he said.

Mudzi Wathu Village Bank is available to all Malawians who are in groups and have active TNM lines registered on Mpamba and Sukasuka said “technology is challenging us to come up with effective features around the mobile money ecosystem”.

“This wallet, which is available to all Mpamba customers, reaffirms our commitment towards providing seamless services through the platform,” he said.

The new savings wallet is available 24/7 and can be accessed on Mpamba USSD code *444#.

“Mpamba customers will use the service on either Mpamba USSD short codes or on organization web portal. The service can be accessed at any time of the day and from anywhere without having to visit any physical TNM branch shops,” Sukasuka said.