NMB BANK, MINISTRY SEAL 100M/- DEAL FOR ‘DIASPORA DIGITAL HUB’

James Bwana (right), Director of Diaspora Department in the Foreign Affairs and East African  Cooperation Ministry and Alfred Shao, NMB Bank Chief of Wholesale Banking responsible for large corporate customers, transactional business as well as Government and International Trade, exchange documents in Dar es Salaam. This was shortly after they signed an agreement between the Ministry and the Bank to finance the development of a Diaspora Digital Hub.

NMB Bank Plc on Thursday pledged 100m/- to Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation for financing the development of the Diaspora Digital Hub that will act as a database for all Tanzanians in the diaspora.

The two parties also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to seal the new partnership signed between the Director Diaspora Unit in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation Ambassador James Bwana and the NMB Chief Wholesale Banking Alfred Shao.

Mr Shao said after inking he deal in Dares Salaam that the diaspora have a big role to play in the country’s development process adding that the bank will continue investing in systems to enable them accessing stress-free banking products to boost remittance contribution.

“We have already partnered with the government to develop various financial systems now applicable in the market and we are glad working on this new Diaspora Digital Hub,” Mr Shao said.

NMB also has not only established a dedicated department for the diaspora but also come up with a tailor-made system for Tanzanians in the diaspora

Ambassador Bwana said during the event that the government has embarked on a number of strategies to boost the contribution of the Tanzanians in the diaspora to the country’s development.

He said the hub will not only be useful in tracking all the necessary information for Tanzanians in the diaspora but will also be useful in linking them to various services back here in Tanzania like banking and finance services, NIDA services and will be able to know the available investment opportunities back home.

“The Diaspora Digital Hub will help us come up with a national database of all Tanzanians in the diaspora, and it has all the relevant information such as their job descriptions, country of residence. This will help to include them in our development plans,” he said.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tanzanians in the diaspora remitted 569.3 million US dollars back home last year being a 42 per cent increase in the value of value of diaspora remittances from $400 million in 2020.