Kitomari Banking & Finance Blog: NCBA AND TADB PARTNERSHIP TARGETS GROWTH ACROSS TANZANIA’S AGRICULTURAL VALUE CHAIN

Frank Nyabundege (left), Managing Director of the Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank (TADB), and Alex Mziray (right), Managing Director of NCBA Bank Tanzania, during the signing ceremony of a strategic partnership aimed at expanding access to financing for businesses across Tanzania’s agricultural value chain. The partnership includes a TZS 10 billion term facility, complemented by a credit guarantee arrangement.

Dar es Salaam - September 24, 2026: For Tanzania’s agricultural businesses, growth does not stop at increasing production. It extends to acquiring the right equipment, improving storage, increasing processing capacity, strengthening distribution and ultimately accessing larger markets.

Unlocking that growth requires access to financing across the entire agricultural value chain.

It is against this backdrop that NCBA Bank Tanzania and the Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank (TADB) have entered into a strategic partnership aimed at expanding financing opportunities for agriculture-focused businesses.

Under the partnership, TADB has provided NCBA Bank Tanzania with a TZS 10 billion term facility, complemented by a credit guarantee arrangement designed to support lending to eligible Corporate, SME and Retail customers.

The partnership provides NCBA with additional capacity to finance businesses at different points of the agricultural ecosystem, from production and mechanisation to processing, storage and distribution.

Financing Tanzania’s Agricultural Value Chain

Speaking during the partnership signing in Dar es Salaam, Alex Mziray, Managing Director of NCBA Bank Tanzania said strengthening agricultural finance requires looking beyond the farm to understand the wider ecosystem of businesses that enable the sector to grow.

“Through this partnership, we are strengthening our ability to support businesses operating across Tanzania’s agricultural value chain with financing that can enable them to invest, expand and become more productive. This is what our philosophy of Banking on Belief – Empowering Ambitions represents — understanding the ambitions of our customers and creating financial solutions that help move those ambitions forward,” said Mziray.

For an SME involved in agriculture, access to finance can mean the ability to acquire machinery, increase production capacity or improve storage.

For a processor, it can provide the capital required to expand operations, while for larger agribusinesses it can support investment and expansion across different parts of the value chain.

This is where the partnership between a development finance institution and a commercial bank becomes particularly relevant.

TADB Highlights Importance of Partnerships

TADB Managing Director, Frank Nyabundege, said partnerships with financial institutions provide an avenue for expanding the reach of agricultural financing while combining the capabilities of institutions serving different roles within the financial ecosystem.

“By working with financial institutions such as NCBA, we are able to broaden the channels through which agricultural businesses can access finance. Combining TADB’s agricultural development mandate and risk-sharing mechanisms with NCBA’s banking capabilities and customer reach creates an opportunity to support viable businesses across the agricultural value chain,” said Mr. Nyabundege.

The credit guarantee component of the partnership is intended to provide additional risk-sharing support as NCBA expands financing to eligible agricultural businesses.

Turning Agricultural Ambitions into Growth

Beyond the financial structure of the agreement, both institutions will ultimately be judged by what the partnership enables businesses to achieve.

For NCBA, that is closely connected to its ongoing Ndoto Zako, Hatua Zetu campaign.

“Behind every agricultural enterprise is an ambition. It could be a farmer looking to mechanise, an SME wanting to increase production or a processor looking to access a new market. Our role is to understand that ambition and identify how we can help the customer take the next step,” Mziray said.

Mr. Nyabundege added that the long-term opportunity lies in translating increased access to finance into productive investment and stronger agricultural enterprises.

“The impact we want to see is businesses accessing financing, investing productively, expanding their operations and strengthening their contribution to the agricultural value chain. That is when partnerships such as this begin to deliver meaningful and sustainable results,” he said.

The NCBA–TADB partnership therefore represents more than a TZS 10 billion financing agreement. It creates an opportunity to connect capital with businesses operating across different stages of agriculture — from production and mechanisation to processing, storage and distribution — and potentially turn business ambitions into productive investment and sustainable growth.

For NCBA, it is an expression of Banking on Belief – Empowering Ambitions.

For its customers, the message is simpler:

Ndoto Zako, Hatua Zetu.