Moza Banco opened, last Thursday and Friday, two new bank branches in Chimbunila and Majune districts, in Niassa province. These branches were opened under the presidential initiative "One District, One Branch" and now are part of the bank’s network of branches totalling 70 throughout the country.    

These branches were built from scratch and provide customers services as well as all related banking services including Automatic Teller Machines (ATM) for varied electronic operations.

Although Moza Banco is already established in Niassa province, these two new bank branches are the first in their respective districts. These infrastructures will benefit about 100,000 inhabitants, 70,000 of them from Chimbunila and about 30,000 from the Majune district.

"We are a bank that aims to get closer and closer to Mozambicans and when we talk about Mozambicans we mean absolutely everyone. So the opening of these branches in these districts makes us believe that we are honouring what has been our aspiration and that is what the bank's customers can expect from us, a greater proximity", explained João Figueiredo, Chairman of the Bank's Board of Directors, moments after the opening of the second branch in Majune district.

The Governor of the Bank of Mozambique, Rogério Zandamela, speaking moments after the opening of one of the branches, expressed his satisfaction with the establishment of the two branches in Niassa, "We are sure that the entry into operation of these branches will bring greater opportunity and flexibility in the settlement of financial transactions in Majune, in particular, and in Niassa province, in general, thus contributing to the promotion of the economic activity and, above all, to the improvement of the financial inclusion indicators at provincial level".

The Central Government also attended the event through the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, represented by the respective deputy minister, Olegário dos Anjos Banze, who noted that "with the opening of these two Moza Banco’s branches, Niassa province has a further 12 districts with at least one financial institution, benefiting nearly 918. 955 inhabitants that are economically active, making up 49.2 percent of the total population with access to banking services, out of more than one million eight hundred thousand inhabitants in the province, with only the districts of Metarica, Ngauma, Sanga and Muembe missing".

In turn, the Secretary of State in Niassa said during his speech that "The establishment of Moza Banco in the districts of Chimbunila and Majune, will minimize the suffering of the population that once had to travel long distances to the city of Lichinga in search of banking services, but today, local residents will be able to carry out transactions and have  access to funding for entrepreneurial activities, and therefore improve their lives," stressed the Secretary of State in the province of Niassa Dinis Vilanculo.

João Figueiredo said that under the Presidential initiative "One District, One Bank", Niassa will gain two more Moza Banco branches. "With these 2 branches, MOZA now has 15 branches opened under the aforesaid initiative and plans to open a further 10 branches, two of them in Niassa - Ngauma and Sanga”.

Given that the aim is to touch and improve the people's lives, taking into account the pandemic that the country and the world are going through, Moza Banco has offered hygiene kits as part of its Social Responsibility.

The kits comprise two water tanks of 5 thousand litres each, 500 fabric masks, soap boxes, buckets of 20 litres with taps, for the district of Chimbunila. For Majune, Moza Banco offered 300 kilos of maize seeds, 200 kilos of sesame seeds and 200 hoes with the aim of promoting agricultural production and marketing.

Moza Banco and the National Fund for Sustainable Development (FNDS), an institution under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADER), have recently signed a Protocol to establish a joint search of financing solutions that will benefit the primary sector of the economy in a consistent and truly viable way.

Under these terms, the two institutions have reached an agreement to make available, under the SUSTENTA Project, a fund of MZN 1,173,216,999.57 MT. This fund includes a Credit Line to support the Agri-Business sector and is also related to a non-refundable grant component, which means a contribution in funds to support the strengthening of the equity of these business units.

At the signing ceremony, João Figueiredo, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Moza Banco, referred to the importance of this initiative to the real economy, "as with the cooperation of MADER, through the FNDS, it will be possible to establish a healthy balance between the involvement of equity and bank financing to the beneficiaries of this financing".

On the other hand, "it is worth mentioning the effort of the State, both in raising funds from other partners such as the World Bank and through the State Budget, would ultimately make it possible for these funds to be granted at a subsidised rate well below market rates, in line with the expectations of the Sector".

Claudio Borges, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the FNDS, reacted by saying that "data in the possession of MADER has shown that less than 1% of farmers in Mozambique have access to bank credit. In order to overcome this reality, we believe it is necessary to create financial products adapted to the various players in an agricultural value chain. One of these products is available to the market through this partnership with MOZA, and there is room in the near future for other commercial banks to participate. Through this partnership, which will ensure transparency and compliance, it has been possible to create a credit line with conditions that we consider appropriate for the agribusiness segment and will allow greater integration and development of agricultural value chains’’.

The terms and conditions of access to this Credit Line will be made available to the market in the next few days through Moza Banco and FNDS distribution channels.

It was with the well-being of Mozambicans and the improvement of their living conditions in mind that Moza Banco decided once again to join the MUVA platform to campaign against gender-based violence in times of confinement and as a consequence of the new Coronavirus.

The campaign, Gender in Times of Covid-19, aims to raise the families’ awareness that staying at home aims to make the family aware that staying at home should translate into togetherness in the place of domestic violence, be it verbal or physical.

Besides Moza Banco, the project is also supported by MEPT, ALIADAS and MISAU partners, and aims to raise awareness on the importance of togetherness, prevention and dialogue, as a way to prevent the increasing of domestic violence in times of crisis, such as the one we are experiencing at the moment. In these cases, women and children are generally the main victims, hence the need to protect these social groups.

The campaign will last two months, and over this period Moza Banco will disseminate awareness messages in its communication channels, as well as develop other initiatives devoted to gender issues.

This campaign is one of several initiatives that Moza Banco is carrying out within the theme and fighting against Covid-19.

In addition to communication campaigns, Moza Banco has implemented a number of measures to prevent its employees from being contaminated, or its facilities from becoming outbreaks of the virus. 

Among the various measures, the dissemination of information and preventive measures on Covid-19 to employees, customers and the general public, through our respective information channels, as well as the strengthening of cleaning and disinfection procedures at our premises, branches, ATMs and kiosks, are noteworthy. The Bank has determined the mandatory temperature measurement of its employees and customers, as well as the use of protective masks by all employees in customer service.