NMB Bank out to raise Sh25 billion to empower women

Dar es Salaam. NMB Bank Plc (NMB) yesterday issued a three-year bond in its effort to raise funds for extension of affordable financing for women-owned or women-controlled enterprises and/or businesses whose products or services directly impact a woman.

Code-named ‘NMB Jasiri’, the Bond – which has received the blessings of the Capital Markets and Securities Authority (CMSA) - targets anyone who wishes to invest and earn an attractive returns.

Through the NMB Jasiri Bond, the bank seeks to raise Sh25 billion and a green shoe option of Sh15 billion.

“The proceeds of this bond will be used to extend affordable financing for women-owned or women-controlled enterprises and/or businesses whose products or services directly impact a woman,” the NMB Bank Plc chief executive officer, Ms Ruth Zaipuna, said in Dar es Salaam yesterday.

From a minimum of Sh500,000 retail and institutional investors can purchase it from any NMB Branch or a broker licensed by the CMSA.

NMB Bank believes that, by putting special emphasis on women empowerment, it would be playing a key role in the attainment of Goals numbers 5 and 10 of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs-2030).

“Women make important contributions to sustainable growth and shared prosperity, and play critical roles in all aspects of public and private life. Through Jasiri Bond, we want to walk the talk in drawing attention to the challenges women entrepreneurs face in Tanzania while creating a new asset class for investors who want to help create sustainable solutions to women economic empowerment,” said Ms Zaipuna.

Investors in the NMB Jasiri Bond will earn annual interest at the rate of 8.5 percent, payable quarterly throughout until March 2025. The interest rate paid is subject to withholding tax deductions.

The NMB Jasiri Bond is part of the lender’s Sh200 billion Medium Term Note (MTN) Programme that had mobilized a total of Sh148.2 billion in the past three tranches.

Upon the closure of the offer on March 21, 2022, the Jasiri Bond will be listed and traded at the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange, giving buyers a chance to sell the bond to another buyer in the secondary market through a licensed stockbroker - and receive the principal before the maturity date.

NMB worked with FSD Africa who provided technical assistance to develop the NMB Social Bond Framework that was reviewed and given a Second Party Opinion (SPO) by Sustainalytics.

This means the NMB Jasiri Bond is compliant with the International Capital Markets Association (ICMA) standards. In this issuance, NMB worked with Orbit Securities as a sponsoring broker.

According to Ms Zaipuna, this type of a bond provides opportunities to small investors to invest in bonds in lower denominations, diversify their investments and trade in the bonds market - thus providing needed inclusion and access using the bank’s easily accessible network.

The director capital markets at FSD Africa, Mr Evans Osano, termed the NMB Jasiri Bond as the lender’s ‘maiden gender bond, which is also a first for sub-Saharan Africa’.

“The proceeds will support women empowerment investments and will also create a new asset class for investors, both retail and institutional, in Tanzania and the wider East Africa region,” he said.