Tanzania: World Bank salutes Exim Bank for supporting

EXIM Bank Tanzania has dished out loans worth 8 million dollars (about 10bn/-) to women entrepreneurs in the country through its Women Entrepreneurs Financing Programme (WEF).

It is for this reason that the World Bank praised the local bank in a bulletin issued this month. The World Bank magazine dwells on various development issues. A total of 214 women entrepreneurs across the country were funded while some other 1,344 were trained on entrepreneurship.

Speaking about the development within the bank, WEF Programme Manager, Ms Felister Simba said the initiative has registered positive results since its inception. She said that the initiative and others within the bank are meant to liberate women economically.


She said women in 15 regions have already attended training on entrepreneurship which has empowered them to undertake various development projects.

“We have made steady progress and managed to issue loans worth 10bn/- to women entrepreneurs in the country”, she said.

She added that the WEF programme, Tumaini account in collaboration with several empowerment projects from the World Bank including International Finance Corporation and GBA have enabled the bank to move forward by enabling women to undertake economic activities.

Ms Simba cited a study by the World Bank conducted in 2006 which showed that only 5 per cent of women engaged in small businesses had bank accounts. The WEF Manager attributed the successes registered by women entrepreneurs in the country to the bank, saying it has largely boosted them.

One of the beneficiaries of WEF, Ms Monica Gaimo of Gaimo Construction Ltd in Arusha said that before she attended the entrepreneurship training by the bank in 2009, her business was in bad shape.

“The training improved the way I was doing business. Then I applied for loan from the bank and I am now undertaking big projects”, she said. She said that the company currently employs more than 200 employees.

At present, the bank has 21 branches in the country. It is the first bank to spread wings outside the country with subsidiaries in Djibouti and Comoro. The bank is also eying to open a branch in Zambia.