NMB INKS STRATEGIC MoU WITH UDSM TO ENHANCE ICT, DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

NMB Bank has signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Dar es Salaam’s College of Information and Communication Technologies (CoICT) geared towards enhancing cooperation in the field of Information Communication Technology (ICT) and digital transformation.

As part of the MoU, NMB Bank will leverage on its expertise to support students at the CoICT to reach their full potential in the fields of innovation and technology adoption, and the emerging technologies research and development among other issues.

Speaking shortly before signing the MoU during a ceremony held at the bank’s head office in Dar es Salaam, the NMB Chief Human Resource Officer Emmanuel Akonaay who represented the bank’s Chief Executive Officer Ruth Zaipuna at the event said the MoU reiterates the bank’s long-term commitment to support development of the education sector.

Akonaay said the MoU will address five key areas that include identifying high performing students in ICT related fields across the CoICT, Innovation and Technology Adoption, Digital transformation, Technology and research insights.

“As a long-term partner for the UDSM, this partnership reflects our continued commitment to supporting development of Tanzania’s education sector and aligns with our Corporate Social Investment (CSI) strategy. We believe it will help in fostering a collaborative environment where students can gain hands-on experience through internships, real-world projects,” he said.

Akoonay noted that his bank will work closely with UDSM-CoICT to support different individuals such as students and university staff in testing, integrating and deploying solutions through the NMB Sandbox environments, and gather insights on improvement.

He reiterated his bank’s commitment to provide financial support to the UDSM- CoIT and scholarship programs to the university students at the UDSM-CoICT.

Akonaay added the bank has for years been at the forefront of supporting development of Tanzania’s education sector through provision of scholastic and building materials, scholarships through the Nuru Yangu Program that supports underprivileged and provision of loans to finance higher learning education as part of its commitment to compliment Government’s efforts

On his part, the UDSM Vice Chancellor Research Prof. Nelson Boniface during the event commended the bank for its continued support to his institution expressing optimism that the MoU has come at an opportune time.

“We believe that this MoU will help build a comprehensive ICT talent management pipeline that transitions skilled individuals from academia to impactful roles in tech innovation,” he added.

Prof. Boniface noted that with the MoU now in place, UDSM-CoICT will work collectively together in carrying out technologies research and explore their impact in the financial industry such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) -based data models.

“UDSM-ColCT will provide human and intellectual resources that can be used by the NMB to fast track the development and launch of new products and services especially in areas such as fintech, blockchain, data Analytics, AI, or Cybersecurity, to create innovative solutions that cater to evolving customer needs,” he added.

He revealed that plans are underway for the UDSM to commence the ‘Professor Adjunct Staff’ seeks to bring on board experts in various fields to take up part-time jobs on contractual basis.

“This will mean that we will now be able to incorporate experts in the university’s learning environment. I encourage all the experts in various fields to embrace this opportunity so as to share their expertise with aspiring students,” he added.