In a country where more than 60% of the population is under the age of 25 and women remain underserved by formal banking, access to financial services can be a life-changing enabler.
EmpowerBank, Zimbabwe’s youth-focused microfinance institution, is meeting that need head on by building a future where young people, including women, are equipped with the financial tools, knowledge, and support they need to succeed.
Through its strategic partnership with EFT Corporation (EFTCorp), EmpowerBank is expanding its reach and deepening its impact by embracing digital solutions that enable entrepreneurship, foster financial resilience, and accelerate long-term economic inclusion at the grassroots.
By providing scalable digital infrastructure and tailored banking technologies, EFTCorp enables institutions like EmpowerBank to serve underserved and often excluded communities more efficiently and securely. Together, the two organisations are creating an ecosystem of empowerment – where technology meets purpose, and where the youth and women can thrive as entrepreneurs, earners, and agents of change.
EmpowerBank’s core mandate is youth economic empowerment and financial inclusion – by offering youth-friendly loan products, financial literacy training, and entrepreneurship programmes, EmpowerBank is helping to reduce youth unemployment, fight against drug and substance abuse and improving financial literacy levels across Zimbabwe.
“We see access to finance as a tool for empowerment,” says Christopher Mwerenga, acting-CEO of EmpowerBank. “When we support a young entrepreneur or a youth-led microbusiness, we’re not just supporting an individual, we’re helping build community-level resilience and sustainable livelihoods.”
EFTCorp complements this mission by providing the robust payment systems that underpin financial access. “Financial inclusion at scale requires reliable banking infrastructure – not just at the branch, but in the palm of your hand,” says Farai Tigere, MD: Zimbabwe at EFTCorp. “We’re proud to be a technology partner to EmpowerBank as they continue to support financial empowerment from the grassroots up.”