by Patience Rashai

The Women’s Alliance of Business Associations in Zimbabwe (Wabaz) has welcomed Government’s initiative to inject 10 million towards opening of the women’s bank.

Speaking after the official launch of the Zimbabwe Micro-Finance bank, Selina Chinembiri, Wabaz’s Manicaland representative said that as an organisation, they were delighted about this initiative which had been in the pipeline for so long.

“The organisation has facilitated many small businesses, savings, support initiatives but the main hindrance remained, source for start-up capital, which we believe is about to become a thing of the past, thanks be to the new bank.

“In communities such as Zimbabwe where marriages in communion of properties are not common, most documents, including tittle deeds for houses, company or business premises, are registered only in the husband’s name, despite invaluable contributions by women towards the acquisition of such properties, making it a tall order for woman to secure loans from conventional banks to start or expand their businesses. 

“It is against this backdrop that Government’s idea of forming a Women’s Bank and seeing it through is most welcome to us as an association as it was the missing solution to women’s challenges of mobilising capital to start businesses or retool existing ones, and Government should be commended for it.”

WABAZ said over the years, it had managed to attract representatives of several women’s organisations, including the Zimbabwe Cross Border Traders Association, women in transport, hotel and catering industries and others from the informal sector.

The association is an equivalent of the Women’s Chamber of Commerce.