Samia to grace ‘women in financial sector’ conference

ZANZIBAR: PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan is expected to grace a conference on ‘Women in the financial sector in Tanzania’ to be held today at Kizimkazi in Unguja South Region.

The Tanzania Insurance Regulatory Authority (TIRA) Deputy Director, Ms Khadija Issa Said announced here that the today’s meeting will involve various women from Zanzibar.

She said the aim of the conference is to have a forum for women in the financial sector for them to share their experience on how to better utilise financial opportunities to grow economically.

“The conference is also aimed to celebrate this year’s ‘International Women’s Day’ with the aim of evaluating and sharing methods that will enable us to move forward and get rid of poverty,” Ms Khadija said.

She said it is expected that the conference will give women opportunities to learn more about financial matters.

The Tanzania Women in Finance Association (TAWIFA) president Ms Fikky Ntomola, said the aim of the association is to bring together women to discuss how to overcome challenges and build capacity in financial matters.

It also seeks to support women in their endeavours to hold leadership positions in various institutions.

“The association has planned to conduct various training in the financial sector for women in formal and informal sector, to enable woman to realise and stand strong in utilising the opportunities in finance in the country,” she said.

She pointed out that there are sufficient examples to prove that if women work together and share experience, they speed up success in development and overcome poverty.

“Such forums are also important because they provide a room to encourage and promote financial inclusion, so that no women is left out in decision-making positions in the sector,” she explained.

She said their expectation, during the one-day conference, is to recruit new members, and also launch of TAWIFA branch in Zanzibar.

The Executive Director of ‘Mwanamke Initiatives Foundation (MIF), Ms Sabra Ali Mohammed, said that they have decided to cooperate with TAWIFA with the aim to raise women economically, especially by providing training.

Mr Omar Aziz, Business Manager from CRDB, one of the conference sponsors, said the bank has decided to support, because it is part of its priority areas to financially empower women.

Other sponsors of the conference organised jointly by TIRA, TAWIFA, and MIF are NSSF, Absa Bank, CRDB (Insurance), PSSF, ZRA, PURA, PBZ, TIRA, ITL, and NMB among others.