A bank in Tanzania geared specifically towards women

 This bank in Tanzania is doing something new to empower women. Check it out at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8173353.stm

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

from a business prespective a women focused bank makes perfect sense. on average(i am sure there are some exceptions) women are more likely to repay their debts than men and are more likely to engage in a productive venture rather than squander the money on girls half their age.

Nest Egg said...

Anon - I agree and disagree. I think from a solely business perspective, it's probably a bad idea to only target women for several reasons:
1. Smaller client pool
2. As the managing director herself pointed out, as African women, we tend to think that we don't know anything about investment, banking, finance, etc and so we're less likely to make full use of banking services, which may mean less profit for the bank.

That said, I appreciate the fact that they're making an effort to empower Tanzanian women.

And as for men being more likely to squander their money on women, we probably shouldn't generalize. Some men may squander their money, while others may spend responsibly. On the other hand, I did read some literature that said that in rural Africa, women are more likely to spend majority of their money on educating children and on their households, while men are more likely to keep a larger portion of their money for their own personal use, and spend a smaller portion on children and other household members. But again we really shouldn't stereotype or generalize.

Anonymous said...

hey...m a guy and i think your advice applies to all. i am african but live in the UK and to be honest I could do with your kind of advice... few europeans understand the difficult the financial burdens on africans... sending money home every month is like living two lives... most of my european friends assume that i just tight because i earn more than them but spend less when in fact i am sending all i earn to look after my family back home....it will be good if you could suggest ideas to manage this...i feel guilty saying no to my family because they really sacificed to get me here...

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