Conference promotes women in cooperatives

MWANZA: MORE than 300 women have attended a cooperative conference in Mwanza Region aimed at promoting their participation in cooperatives as a pathway to economic empowerment.

The conference brought together leaders and stakeholders, with the Assistant Registrar of Cooperative societies in the region, Ms Hilda Boniphace, saying efforts are ongoing to encourage citizens, especially women, to join cooperatives to drive economic development.

She said participants were educated on the benefits of cooperatives and the importance of joining such associations, as awareness campaigns continue across the region.

For her part, the NMB Bank Manager for the Lake Zone, Ms Faraja Ngingo said that the bank continues to provide various financial services aimed at empowering women economically.

She explained that NMB also launched a ‘Mwanamke Jasiri’ product, which aims to give women the opportunity to access loans on favourable terms. She added through the service, a woman can get a loan of up to 100m/- at an interest rate of 14 per cent.

In addition, she said NMB bank also offers digital loans that enable a woman to get up to 5.0m/- shillings without having to go to the bank or submit many documents.

She added that NMB has continued to collaborate with the government in promoting the use of clean energy, where it also offers special loans for energy projects at an interest rate of 12 per cent.