Two years of empowering the nation by CRDB Bank
President Samia Suluhu Hassan and CRDB Bank's CEO Abdulmajid Neskela unveil the curtain to mark the official launch of the Bank's headquarters on Ali Hassan Mwinyi Road, Dar es Salaam
Two years of President Samia Suluhu Hassan in office translates into a glimmer of hope for the country looking at how she fights for improving the lives of her people.
CRDB Bank, the country’s leading financier, has been working shoulder to shoulder with the Samia Government since taking office on March 19, 2021.
Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa receives a handicraft from an exhibitor after visiting the section after launching of CRDB Bank's iNBEJU program coordinated by CRDB Bank's Foundation at the Julius Nyerere International Convention Center (JNICC),Dar es Salaam.
Under the stewardship of Abdulmajid Nsekela, the Group CEO and Managing Director at CRDB Bank, the lender has been intensively pushing the country's drive while boosting youth and women’s access to finance being its recent flagship campaign.
Women and youth are critical aspects towards Tanzania's economic boom but have been left behind for a long time but never with CRDB Bank, which is focused on building a nation full of innovative women and youth.
CRDB Group CEO and managing director Abdulmajid Nsekela holds a glass frame containing the Euromoney award presented at the bank's offices in Dar es Salaam.
To do that, CRDB Bank rolled out its flagship campaign of iMBEJU under the Bank’s arm, CRDB Bank Foundation that caters for lifting up youth and women with innovative ventures through training, advice and enabling financial assistance.
"The iMBEJU program operates in two formats; through a competitive structure for empowering startups and women entrepreneurs," explains TullyEsther Mwambapa, CRDB Bank Foundation Managing Director.
She says that for the startup empowerment competitive model, all applications are submitted online through the partners of the iMBEJU program, which are the Information and Communications Technology Commission (ICTC) and the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH).
“And applications for women entrepreneurs are presented to CRDB Bank branches. The applicant must be a member of a group with an agreement between iMBEJU and CRDB Bank. The benefits of this program are that women and young people will be able to improve their businesses through enabling capitals, advice and training where the recent Census figures show that youth stand at 75 percent and women at 51 percent.”
CRDB Bank Foundation Managing Director, Tully Esther Mwambapa presents a topic about iMBEJU program focused on empowering innovative youth and female entrepreneurs.
The establishment of this program has come at the right time as President Samia completing her two years of leadership is a matter of pride for CRDB Bank. While the Government, through the councils, allocates 10 percent for youth and women, the Bank itself comes up with a specific program to empower women and youth in the economy.
In addition, CRDB Bank sets aside annually 1 percent off its profits to implement its Corporate Social Investment strategy aimed at helping the Government to improve people’s lives.
The bank's strategy in helping the community is based on four areas; education, health, environment and empowerment of women and youth, and in the last two years alone, it has dished out Sh3.6 billion.
In terms of health, the bank has spent an amount of Sh1.13 million, education (Sh889 million), environment (Sh222 million), women, youth and sports (Sh998 million) and other projects (Sh1.17 billion) for the year 2021 and 2022.
Some of the education projects done by the bank include building schools, donating more than 1000 desks to districts in Tanzania on the mainland and Zanzibar, and renovating 31 classrooms in 22 schools in the country.
For the health docket, among other things, the bank in the two years has cashed out a soaring Sh125 million to mend the health of over 200 children at the Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute (JKCI), construction of Call Centre of the Ocean Road Cancer Institute (ORCI) plus that Sh220 million it raised for high-risk pregnancies at CCBRT.
The bank has financed the 'Pendezesha Taifa' campaign and encouraged the planting of trees throughout the country via its 263 branches countrywide.
In sports, the bank has established CRDB Bank Marathon, CRDB Bank Ngalawa race held at Kizimkazi Zanzibar, CRDB Taifa Cup, and supporting Namungo Soccer Club.
Two years of success within the Bank
One of the biggest milestones for any firm is profit after tax, and CRDB Bank has done well for the year 2022 to hit a record profit of staggering Sh353 billion.
As if there were no tomorrow, CRDB Bank signed an agreement with the African Development Bank and the African Trust Fund worth Euro 110 million to up financing for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), women entrepreneurs and Blue economy.
Apart from its achievement within and outside the country, the Bank has won different awards including the Best Bank in Tanzania that provides services to small and medium businesses (SME) honoured by the famous Global Finance Magazine for the year 2023 and that of the Euromoney Magazine for the great reforms it made in the financial sector in 2022.
FIGURES
Sh11,647 billion
Total assets of the bank as of December 2022.
Sh353 billion
Post-profit tax of the bank as of December 2022.
Sh6,678 billion
Total loans disbursed by the bank as of December 2022.
Sh8,200 billion
Total deposits of the bank as of December 2022.
Sh3.6 billion
Total funds allocated for the Bank’s CSI strategy in 2021 and 2022.
