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Moza Banco has just been elected the best regional bank in Southern Africa in an event that rewards the best participants in the sector in the continent each year. This year the ceremony took place virtually due to the limitations caused by Covid-19.

The awards are promoted by African Banker Magazine with the support of the African Development Bank (AfDB) and aim to highlight the achievements of companies and individuals who contribute to the transformation and development of the financial sector in Africa.

Besides, it also aims to acknowledge the efforts made by those who have driven growth and development, thus creating new economic opportunities for citizens and communities across the continent.

It is in this context that Moza Banco was distinguished as the best bank in the southern African. This distinction was based on the extraordinary evolution of the bank's commercial activity indicators, the expansion of the branch network, the quality of the service provided, embodied in the provision of value-added products and services for customers and the wider market.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Moza Banco, João Figueiredo, manifested satisfaction for this Moza Banco distinction and highlighted the fact that this is an award to the whole Moza's family and the country. "This is for all of us, as Mozambicans and as part of Moza Banco, a matter of great pride".

"I would like to express our special appreciation and gratitude to all those who have contributed to the consolidation and growth of Moza Banco, and who are the true "workers" of this award, particularly the Employees, for the committed and professional way they have conducted their mission, our Customers for maintaining their trust in this Institution, our Shareholders for all the support they have given us and also the Supervisory and Governmental Authorities for their availability and support to the processes the Bank has been developing".

João Figueiredo also highlighted the moment this award arrives to Moza Bank, which is "such a difficult moment for humanity, due to the Covid-19 pandemic", and therefore took the moment to say that "we will all be and continue to be together with our authorities and our governors in order to defeat this strong pandemic that is afflicting humanity".

In addition to the "Best Regional Bank" category, in which Moza Banco competed and won, it worth mentioning that the respective CEO was among the 5 finalists to the " banker of the year " award, which he already won in 2013.

Moza Banco will support an initiative for the recovery of population affected by the conflicts that have been taking place in Cabo Delgado since 2017. The campaign consists in offering self-employment kits, where Moza Banco will support through the sewing machines and kits to allow the start of the activity.

This is an initiative of the Chamber of Commerce of Mozambique and Portugal, which aims to support as many as possible out of 250 thousand families displaced from their areas of origin due to the terrorist attacks that have been devastating the province of Cabo Delgado.

The aim is to help the families to restart their lives in a sustainable way, hence the name "restarting life by creating self-employment for the refugees’ families in Cabo Delgado".  This will be done by offering work kits for various activities by the Chamber and partners, one of them being Moza Banco.

Moza Banco was moved by the despair story of some families, where children sleep without food and their parents in the anguish for not having what to provide to their families. For this reason, the bank decided to support the campaign in buying these sewing machines and their work-kits.

The kits will contain a piece of fabric, machine needles, thimbles, thread rolls, scissors, pins, reel, buttons, tape measure, chalk, machine oil, carbon pencil, elastic (30m), ruler and 6mm screwdriver.

"This, in fact, is an action that we consider tiny; however, this is what we can and we believe that if several other entities proceed in the same way we will be able help in a very significant way. As per our national anthem, millions of arms, one force", said João Figueiredo, Chairman of Moza Banco.

Besides purchasing the sewing machines, Moza Banco will use its channels, such as ATM and others to raise awareness of other collective and individual entities supporting the campaign to ensure its success.

The donations will be delivered in a public ceremony on a date to be announced and divided between the Islamic Community and the Diocese of Pemba, that both will select the beneficiaries and this may include refugees in Pemba, Mueda, Montepuez and Metuge.

Moza Banco and the State Secretary for Youth and Employment have joined efforts to ensure the insertion of the recent best graduate trainees, trained by the institutes and vocational training centers, into working life by providing pre-professional internships in the production units. To this end, the two institutions signed yesterday a memorandum of understanding (MoU).

This is a legal instrument that aims, among several objectives, to provide effective actions for the integration of young graduates who have recently applied for employment, with the aim of complementing, developing and improving their skills and practice abilities, developing professional activities. With the signature of this MoU, it is also intended to improve the trainees' practice, facilitating their recruitment and integration, employment promotion as well as creating jobs and generate income to the population.

In addressing those present, the Chairman of the Board of Directors (CEO) of Moza Banco, João Figueiredo, outlined the essential role that labour market players must play in offering alternatives and platforms for employment opportunities for young people, especially graduates of different education systems.

According to Figueiredo, Moza Banco assumes itself as a relational bank, committed to creating worthy partnerships with entities and institutions whose mission and objectives are in harmony with its strategic positioning, principles and values.

"The MoU now signed will allow the direct beneficiaries to develop their skills and abilities within a solid, sustainable organization with enormous growth potential, which today occupies a prominent position in the national financial system," said João Figueiredo.

The CEO also said that Moza currently has about 900 employees, mostly young, with an average age of 35.

"We have been strongly committed to human empowerment, through training and a policy of retention and valorisation of our human resources. It is our intention to increase our contribution in this area, which we consider strategic to the position of the bank and the way it is seen and recognized by its stakeholders".

In turn, Oswaldo Petersburgo, Secretary of State for Youth and Employment, said that Moza Banco is the first institution in this new cycle of governance that has signed a MoU to ensure the pre-professional internships of trainees trained by vocational training institutes and centers.

"We want to commend Moza Banco for being the first institution, in this governance cycle, to celebrate with us this Memorandum of Understanding and encourage other companies to follow this example because we have common goals of producing and developing the country and its citizens, including the company itself," said Oswaldo Petersburg.

For Petersburg, the pre-professional internship is a relevant platform in the transition from school to the job market because it is through it that recent graduates complement, develop and perfect their skills and abilities in a particular profession.

In light of this MoU, Moza will be responsible for providing internship opportunities to at least 10 young graduate each year, providing INEP with necessary information on the quality of internships, making available to INEP lists of interns by fields of specialty, age, gender, among other requirements.

The INEP will be responsible for developing actions to ensure access to pre-professional internships to the trainees, register and select candidates for pre-professional internships, cooperate with Moza in the promotion of initiatives to stimulate job creation oriented research, provide Moza Banco with technical support in the implementation of internships, among other actions.

It should be noted that this MoU will be valid for (2) two years, counting from the date of signature, and may be extended, whenever the parties so agree.

Moza Banco, in partnership with Instituto Camões, is sponsoring three live shows of Stewart Sukuma, one of the most renown Mozambican musicians. They are part of Stewart's project called "We're Home Together", whose purpose is to encourage people to stay longer at home and provide good moments of entertainment.

With social distancing, several artists have turned to the internet to communicate with their fans and offer entertainment. In this context, major brands also reinvent themselves and seek out video platforms to disseminate their work, in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis, through online transmissions.

It is in this context that Moza Banco decided to associate its brand with this global movement to fight Covid-19, encouraging social distancing, seen as one of the ways to mitigate the risk of contagion by the new coronavirus.

To this end, in partnership with Instituto Camões, the Bank has embraced the campaign "We Are Home Together", through which fans in particular and the general public enjoy good entertainment without having to leave home.

These are unique concerts, from the point of view of conception and realization, where the musician Stewart Sukuma interprets the best of his musical repertoire, in the company of renowned Mozambican and foreign artists.

"The purpose of this project is to encourage people to stay longer at home. It has been proven that social distance is one ways to fight this pandemic and, being at home, the public will enjoy the best of music using digital platforms, without having to leave home," said Stewart Sukuma

Moza, as a truly Mozambican bank, is proud to be associated with this initiative, as a way of contributing to the fight against Covid-19, promoting and supporting preventive measures for the virus, thus valuing life on the one hand, and arts and culture on the other

After the concerts of the musicians, Assa Matusse, Rodhália and Deodato Siquir, Stewart Sukuma will also present his fans, with a concert on May 9th, this time in the company of the consecrated Portuguese Jazz singer, Maria João. The third concert of this series is scheduled for May 25^th, Africa´s Day and will have the special participation of the Senegalese musician Noumoucounda Cissoko.

You can follow these shows on the following online platform: www.facebook.com/Mozabanco

The Moza Banco branch in Ile District came into operation on 13 April 2020, by the way the first bank branch in that district in Zambezia Province. It is expected that the branch will serve the local inhabitants and surrounding areas, therefore, alleviating the suffering of the population, including small businessmen, civil servants and state agents, who had to travel long distances to find a bank branch facing risks.                                 

The opening of this branch is part of the presidential initiative "One District One Bank", which, in partnership with the commercial banks, aims to boost the expansion of the banking network in the country, providing all districts with at least one financial institution that allows individuals, companies and institutions to carry out various banking operations with total security and efficiency besides allowing locals to find financial solutions that are appropriate to their needs.

By joining this initiative, Moza Banco demonstrates its commitment to local and sustainable development of communities, promoting financial inclusion and banking of the economy through the expansion of its activity to the Districts.

With the entry into operation of Ile branch, the number of Moza Banco's Business Units throughout the country rises to 68, thus reinforcing the Bank's position as the 3^rd largest branch network.

It should be noted that in view of the current situation in the country, caused by the pandemic of the new Coronavirus (COVID-19), Moza Banco has been strengthening its appeal to Customers to favour the use of the Digital Channels, and has also recently announced the suspension of collection of commissions on transactions carried out through these channels, in amounts of up to MZN 5,000 (except for ATM withdrawals).