In a world-first that will look to enhance financial inclusion and enrich the lives of refugees based in Malawi, New Finance Bank Malawi (NFB), part of Frankfurt-listed Fintech, MyBucks SA and Finsbury Investments are launching a fully operational branch of its banking network at the Dzaleka refugee camp based outside of Lilongwe.
Comprised of approximately 35 000 refugees from the DRC, Burundi, and Rwanda, including many others from countries of political, social and economic distress in Africa, the Dzaleka refugee camp is home to residents that have been a part of its living fabric for as long as 20 years. During this time, it has seen an explosion of entrepreneurism, giving rise to successful microbusinesses, from farmers to barbers, to profitable enterprises that include grocery shops and saloons, restaurants and poultry businesses.
It is in this context of a unique and flourishing economic ecosystem that NFB will strengthen entrepreneurial progress and broaden financial inclusion by offering the community a conveniently placed banking opportunity, coordinated with the support of the Malawian government under the auspices of the Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security, with the support of the Ministry of Health – and the efforts of UN agencies, namely the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as the lead agency, supported by the World Food Programme (WFP), and other partners such as Plan International Malawi, Jesuits Refugee Services (JRS), Churches Action in Relief and Development (CARD). These and other critical actors, including the donor community, are instrumental in the running and development of the camp.
The new branch will, for the first time ever seen in a refugee camp worldwide, offer displaced individuals access to simple banking products and functions like fixed deposits, saving and transactional accounts; access to an ATM, agency banking and money transfers; and access to lending products such as micro-lending, group loans and the broader activities associated with foreign exchange.
“It is certainly a unique prospect,” explains Dave van Niekerk, executive chairman of MyBucks, “Dzaleka is living proof of human enterprise; how we can innovate and overcome in adversity. We trust that opening a New Finance Bank in Dzaleka will further empower this community and catapult them into a new era of success. It is critical for financial inclusion that refugees so entwined with the local fabric can contribute formally to the economy and better their lives.”
It makes business sense for NFB too explains Zandile Shaba CEO of NFB. “It will prove a profitable exercise for us. Investing in a local community that can save, invest and grow with us makes financial sense – and broader economic sense too in the context of Malawian growth and prosperity.
“However, on a community level, in Dzaleka and the surrounding communities where this investment will be felt most, the impact will be profound. Having access to world-class banking services is surely a fundamental economic right, without which Dzaleka cannot push on and thrive in the context of a technological world. Without access to fundamental banking systems, financial inclusion will remain a pipe dream for so many of the displaced who are looking to not only better their own lives, but the broader community too.”
Shaba continues: “In the instance where resettled refugees have been placed abroad, but who originate from Dzaleka, it is common for many of them to send money back to the Dzaleka community. With a NFB branch right here this entire process is optimised and made substantially easier.
“International currency is a boost to our own. As such, Dzaleka cannot be left behind in the context of broader Malawian development. A functioning Malawi is only as strong as the parts that comprise it and it makes sense to invest in a bourgeoning refugee camp with such a unique ecosystem.”
With an empathetic view of the Dzaleka situation, NFB trusts that this will act as the platform for further investment in the community and others like it:
“By sourcing staff within the community, it is also about how we can directly impact on a ground level and not only how we contribute in the broader economic and ideological sense,” Shaba says. “Although that should drive us, it is as important to also offer a tangible and immediate impact. Jobs do that.”
Furthermore, NFB trusts that the new bank will further help strengthen strides already made since the opening of the camp twenty-four years ago and are confident that it will forge new opportunities where previously there were few. Micro-lending will also help to give birth to a new wave of entrepreneurial success, as the bank strives to become integral to a culture that favours saving, and the broader education of financial wellbeing.
