sector is that it not only has the potential to
create meaningful employment, but adding value
to its supply chains gives us a great opportunity to
increase agribusiness’s levels of industrialization.”
Sabi is now looking to attract investors to help
realize this goal by funding the development of
large refrigerated outlets and warehouses to store
the anticipated increase in the production of
vegetables and other perishable products destined
for Tanzania’s conurbations and even abroad.
NBC is equally committed to improving the
quality of life for Tanzania’s growing number
of urban dwellers. Though 70% of Tanzanians
may live in the countryside, Dar es Salaam’s
population is expected to swell from about seven
million today to more than 13 million by 2035.
There is already an acute shortage of adequate
housing, and in recent years NBC has joined
forces with several real estate developers to help
tackle the problem. Through the
the National Housing Corporation’s government-
approved Tenant Purchase Scheme, for instance,
NBC provides tenants with a long-term payment
plan that allows them to spread the cost of a
house purchase over a 10-year period.
From housing and subsistence farming to
airports and power stations, NBC is involved
in every aspect of the Tanzanian economy. The
country’s future is in good hands.
A
s Tanzania’s oldest and one of its largest
commercial banks, NBC is well suited to
this role thanks to its specialist corporate
and investment teams and their in-depth
knowledge of the relevant industries, which
include oil and gas, mining, energy and transport.
This, combined with the bank’s familiarity with
local markets, makes NBC the ideal intermediary
between overseas investors and Tanzania’s
governmental agencies. “Any investor coming
to work with us will profit from the experience
of a bank that’s international, but also deeply
local,” says Theobald Sabi, NBC’s managing
director.
Importantly, earnings reports show that investor
confidence in the Tanzanian banking sector
as a whole is well placed. Despite a marginal
decline in growth in 2020 due to the COVID-19
pandemic, the sector has bounced back in style.
In the second quarter of 2021, seven of the top
10 banks that control 77% of the market saw
profits rise by an average of 46% compared with
the same period a year earlier.
In NBC’s case this return to form owed much
to Sabi’s foresight. Almost immediately after his
appointment in 2018, he announced plans to
continue the ongoing reduction of nonperforming
loans and to increase foreign currency trading
as a way of diversifying the bank’s sources
of revenues and profitability. Sabi also set
NBC on the path towards a successful digital
transformation by launching an online banking
and registration system that enables customers to
pay utility and other bills electronically.
“Our purpose is to provide convenient services
to our customers and clients” says Sabi. “We
want our customers to be able to bank or transact
wherever they are without visiting branches.
Our digital banking facilities provide individuals,
SMEs, government agencies, and corporates with
convenient and efficient cash collections and
payment solutions.”
By reducing its employees’ workload, the
digitalization initiative has had a direct and
positive impact on the bank’s bottom line. In the
first half of 2020 profits were up 12% and costs
down 4%, which in Sabi’s opinion was due to
digitalization’s beneficial influence.
ALONG WITH RESPONDING
TO THE CHANGING BANKING
EXPECTATIONS AND
REQUIREMENTS OF ITS
500,000-STRONG CUSTOMER
BASE, NBC IS ALSO THE
DRIVING FORCE BEHIND
TANZANIA’S COMMITMENT
TO INCREASE LEVELS OF
FINANCIAL INCLUSION,
WHICH CURRENTLY RUN AT
AROUND 60% OF THE ADULT
POPULATION.
Another of Sabi’s early initiatives was to
increase the number of agents out in the field
from 100 to 900. This past April the bank
announced that it had entered a partnership
with the Tanzania Agricultural Development
Bank in a program that will provide thousands
of small-holder farmers with the low-interest
loans they so urgently need to grow their
farmsteads.
The loans should also help modernize the
country’s agricultural, livestock and fisheries
value-chains. “Almost 70% of Tanzania’s
population live in rural areas and most of them
make a living off the land one way or another,”
says Sabi. “So the beauty of the agricultural
NATIONAL BANK OF COMMERCE
Your Investment Partner in Tanzania
In a clear sign that investor confidence in Tanzania is
returning, hundreds of millions of overseas dollars have
been flowing into the nationwide upgrade of the country’s
power and transport networks. Tanzania’s National Bank of
Commerce (NBC) has helped broker much of the financing
behind the project.
Theobald Sabi
Managing Director of NBC
CONTENT FROM THE INTELLIGENT INVESTOR
time.com/specialsections
