Such post offices can be viably turned into profit making
* MPC and NBS Bank are already in partnership through post offices
* MPC has 180 post offices across the country of which 60 are economically viable
* While 120 are just running as social services, making as little as K5,000 a month
* But we still have to pay salaries for the staff in these post offices
By Duncan Mlanjira
Malawi Postal Corporation (MPC), then trading as Malawi Post Office, used to operate banking services in all its post offices across the country.
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But Malawi Post Office was later transformed to MPC paving way to the creation of Malawi Savings Bank as its subsidiary — which was then sold a few years ago to FDH Financial Holdings Limited under FDH Bank.
MPC now plans to revisit this banking service taking cognizance that the rural masses are still unbanked and they intend to utilize their nationwide post offices which are making huge losses.
This was disclosed by acting Postmaster General, Zachaeus George Meke in an exclusive interview on Friday when the company presented monetary awards to three passengers through the coach ticket raffle draw the Post Bus Service introduced some two months ago.
Acting Postmaster General, Zachaeus George Meke
“As you may be aware of, we are in partnership with NBS Bank and FDH Bank where we have created all post offices countrywide as banking agencies for the unbanked rural people to access all their financial services.
“This is part of the financial inclusion in the reforms we have formulated,” Meke said, whose Corporation has been making losses since 2000.
“Something has to be aggressively done and tough decisions have to be made for us to achieve what we plan to do.”
He said the corporation has 180 post offices across the country, of which 60 are economically viable while 120 are just running as social services.
“Some make as little as K5,000 a month but we still have to pay salaries for the staff in these post offices. It means we have to turn these post offices from just operating as social service to a mixture of business oriented strategy where we can partner with other stakeholders to occupy the premises and also operate as rural banking services.”
The partnership with NBS Bank
Recently, MPC and NBS Bank launched banking agencies in post offices which is a continuation of a partnership the two organisation tried to operate in 2012.
At the official launch of the partnership at Bvumbwe Trading Centre in in October 2019, NBS Bank Chief Treasury and Globe Market Officer, Benedicto Nkhoma told the media that MPC was its first partner and a first bank agent in Malawi in 2012, taking cognizance that the corporation has the most reliable channel and expertise to deliver the much needed services.
Nkhoma had said the main objective of the partnership was financial inclusion — mainly reaching the rural masses with banking facilities and creating a very big banking network in Malawi.
Meke sampling NBS Bank services in his own Bvumbwe Post Office
Meke had said at the launch that MPC will continue to revive partnerships with different stakeholders through the turnaround strategy and they shall involve other stakeholders like insurance as well as mobile communication companies.
“We are reshaping MPC from being a social service provider to become a commercially driven business organisation that also target the rural masses to fully profit from,” he said.
Meke and two of his directors Shadreck Vokhiwa (right) and Thom Kachale
In the exclusive interview, Meke also disclosed of plans to operate as a third party financial service provider (aggregator) as well as digitally restructuring their courier service so that customers can track the goods they have sent from point of sending till its destination.
“We are geared to clear the rubble that was created from fundamental errors from the past 20 years and one of them is on infrastructure improvement to offer modern services to cater for the rural masses as well,” he said.
The MPC intercity passenger coach services’ fleet shall also be increased and to introduce city busliners that will run on schedule with more comfort.
“City busliners are what we had in the past through which city commuters travelled as according to their budgeted time,” he said.
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