PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan has been lauded for making Kizimkazi Festival Week a major annual tourism promotion event that offers abundant socio-economic opportunities.
Kizimkazi village, which is one of the key areas with world class attractions documented in the Royal Tour film, is also endowed with huge investment opportunities that yearn for exploration, especially in the blue economy sectors.
The Kizimkazi festivities started in 2015 as a farewell and congratulatory ceremony to President Samia for the completion of her tenure as Makunduchi Member of Parliament and appointment as CCM presidential running mate under the late John Magufuli.
Speaking earlier at the event to mark Kizimkazi Day over the weekend, the NMB Chief Executive Officer, Ms Ruth Zaipuna thanked President Samia for coming up with the idea of Kizimkazi festivals that has now become a major annual happening offering abundant socio-economic opportunities.
Apart from promoting tourism opportunities and marshalling resources, the key goals of the festivities are unity and solidarity among Kizimkazi residents as well as preservation and advancing culture and traditions.
Ms Zaipuna told the Head of the State that, “NMB is proud to be a major participant in the development of Zanzibar and the whole of Tanzania and we pledge to committedly continue serving the entire nation,”
Gracing the event, President Samia lauded NMB and other lenders for their support particularly lending, which caters for even ordinary folks.
Mama Samia who was accompanied at the colourful bonanza by Premier Kassim Majaliwa called on Zanzibaris to go for NMB loans, which she said are not only unconditional but can be as small as 5,000/- for individual borrowers and general enterprises.
For her part, Ms Zaipuna said NMB’s support of the festival was unequivocal and the bank remains at the forefront of supporting society particularly in the realms of entrepreneurship, education and health services.
She said also that NMB is actively involved in the tourism sector by forging strategic partnerships with prominent stakeholders like Zanzibar Association of Tour Operators (ZATO) and Hotel Association Zanzibar (HAZ) in the bid to offer holidaymakers and business travellers’ top-notch financial services.
She said during the climax of the Kizimkazi Festival that apart from supporting the isles with innovative banking services, it also serves the Spice Islands through other commercial aspects like business partnerships and tourism promotion.
In the spirit of the festival’s theme of ‘Royal Tour and Blue Economy as Catalyst of Our Development’, we have trained small farmers in entrepreneurship and educated about 3,800 people, including more than 50 women groups involved in salt harvesting, fishing and seaweeds farming as well as offering them loans.
“We are equally proud of our unrivalled financing ability and technological innovation prowess to provide solutions and serve Tanzanians wherever they are inside and outside the country,” Ms Zaipuna said.
She said NMB was the first bank to install forex ATMS in the country, through which tourists and residents can conveniently exchange up to 2,000 US dollars and other major currencies.
Ms Zaipuna said the highly innovative machines are at all the three major international airports in the country, including Abeid Amani Karume International Airport’s Terminal III.
Speaking earlier, Unguja South RC Rashid Khalid Rashid also hailed the president for promoting tourism through the festival. He said the Kizimkazi festival was bringing in a good number of tourists both local and international.
Mr Rashid also said the region was grateful of NMB’s support noting that the bank was a key stakeholder in the growth and development of the whole of Zanzibar.
He said in recent social investments it has made in southern east Unguja where Mama Samia comes from include providing building materials worth 17m/- for Kizimkazi Mkunguni School, 10m/-wheelchairs for the disabled and 19.9m/- for construction of a school building at Ndijani.
“NMB has also trained 500 women and plans to provide 50 gadgets for collecting tourism revenue and already 12 of them are in use for piloting the project. We have also held talks with the bank to share notes on how it can finance procurement of fishing and tourism boats,” Mr Rashid said.
The Kizimkazi Festival started in 2015 as Samia Day and acquired the current name and status the following year to become a national event supporting development and promoting inclusive growth.
