Happy Birthday to our Founder & Group Chairman, Mr Strive Masiyiwa!

His vision, entrepreneurial spirit and determination truly inspires us all.

Please use #ChairmanMasiyiwaAt60 on Sasai, Twitter and Facebook to join us as we celebrate one of Africa’s leading entrepreneurs and philanthropists.

ChairmanMasiyiwaAt60

This July, Steward Bank is celebrating its 7th birthday. In this short time, we have achieved important milestones, making us a key player in the Zimbabwean Banking Sector. In seven years we have grown our customer base from 20,000 clients in 2013 to more than 2 million+ to date. We have inspired an innovative banking evolution in Zimbabwe by providing affordable financial services, and by promoting financial inclusion for corporate organizations, previously unbanked individuals and Small & Medium Enterprises (SME’s). We have focused on making banking universal and accessible to every Zimbabwean, and our impact continues to grow as a result.

This journey has led Steward Bank to several opportunities for innovative digital solutions.  We introduced:

Our digitization efforts have transformed the customer experience in a comprehensive and significant way. As we celebrate and move into the future we are grateful for the opportunity to keep serving our customers, as the Stewards of their financial needs.

Thank you for the support!

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The Steward Bank incubation Pod continues to offer entrepreneurs with a space to come in and work on innovative ideas for their existing or upcoming businesses and potentially open accounts with SB.  If you have not yet had a chance to come through and listen to our insightful presentations, we do invite you to read all about the incubation pod in the article below, and we believe you will be most encouraged to join us at the pod next Friday.

A pod has just landed in Harare. Enter Steward Bank Incubation Pod at their Avondale branch in Harare. Steward Bank continues to provide unique services tailored for the Zimbabwean environment. Their latest offering, a co-working space called the ‘incubation pod’ seeks to provide entrepreneurs and innovators a place they can work from. The pod has free WiFi and free coffee, something that has become synonymous with Steward Bank.

Why the incubation Pod?

Most startups struggle with working space, networking and financing. The incubation pod provides unique opportunities for entrepreneurs and innovators by offering free business seminars, financial advice and crowdfunding solutions. The pod is a great financial inclusion service for entrepreneurs. Speaking to Tino Tichivangana from the incubation pod she said,’ We are holding CFO seminars every Friday from 1000-1100hrs.’ The CFO (Cash Flow Optimiser) is a business financial optimisation tool created by Nigel Chanakira. Steward Bank have fostered a partnership with CFO for the seminars.

Tichivangana also said the incubation pod would be holding weekly business seminars every Friday from 1300-1400 hrs. The seminars will host prominent business people and provide entrepreneurs with vast networking opportunities, skills and potential funding. She also said the pod would be hosting monthly TEDx events.  The pod is open every Friday from 0800-1600 hours as Steward Bank said they were still assessing the response from customers.

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The idea wall

To promote startups, the incubation pod has created what they call ‘the idea wall.’ The idea wall is a portal where entrepreneurs post their business ideas and interested investors provide funding. While Steward Bank is not currently providing direct funding for startups, the idea wall provides a great opportunity for startups. The pod is also working on a crowdfunding solution which will be available on their website soon. Crowd funding is an alternative business funding solution that has become very popular with innovators and entrepreneurs around the world.

What we think

The pod is a great initiative by Steward Bank. The bank continues to push the boundaries by offering innovative and convenient services for entrepreneurs and startups. The bank is already offering a flexible banking service for small businesses. The service, called the ZamaZama account allows small businesses to open bank accounts on less stringent terms than traditional business accounts. Such services are essential in creating a progressive Africa and we encourage entrepreneurs out there to take advantage of such services.  For more on the incubation pod visit https://www.stewardbank.co.zw/for-smes/sme-banking/incubation-pod

Source: kaguvidigital.com http://bit.ly/2jsdMKm

Should a Zimbabwean in the diaspora open a bank account in Zimbabwe? What are the benefits of holding an account in Zimbabwe when you work and live outside the country? What are the hoops you have to go through to open and hold such an account? I will try to answer these and related questions by analysing the Steward Bank Diaspora Banking Unit. Why Steward Bank? The reasons are straightforward and simple, really.

1) It’s Steward Bank’s PRIORITY

Firstly, Steward Bank has made diaspora banking a priority. It is the most aggressive local bank targeting Zimbabweans outside our borders. It currently has more than 8,000 diaspora accounts and this client base is expected to keep increasing. We have seen it holding, sponsoring or outright crashing numerous events in Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, the United Kingdom and even in the United States!

2) Understanding the need

Another reason is that the founder of their parent organization lives in the diaspora and their CEO lived in the diaspora for more than 10 years. This could explain why the Diaspora Banking Unit was established almost immediately after Econet acquired the bank in 2013. It’s a classic case of passion perhaps or maybe Strive Masiyiwa (Econet Executive Chair) and Lance Mambondiani (Steward Bank CEO) being ‘diasporans’ themselves understand the need for the service. Coincidentally (or maybe not), one of the key movers in the Diaspora Banking Unit lived in Namibia for almost 10 years!

3) Investing in the Right Relationship

The chief reason I can think of for anyone to operate a Zimbabwean account from outside is to invest in a good relationship with the bank- strictly talking about diasporans who dream of ever coming back to Zimbabwe here. I am sure most of us have had the nasty experience of needing to borrow from a bank but realising we belong to no single bank database. The banker-customer relationship is a two-way trust highway and it is a no brainer that you need to cultivate it. This relationship also affects your access to other third party forms of finance and credit. Everyone who is holding something you need seems to be asking for your six-month bank statement these days.

4) The Remittances Factor

An obvious advantage in having a Zimbabwean account whilst you live across the world is to do with remittances. You obviously want to send money home for various reasons. But wait, aren’t there fully committed remittance service providers out there? The difference between those other guys and a bank is that a bank can execute specific orders through stop orders and other instruments which protect you from complicating your relationship with uncles and aunts over money that goes missing. It is a tough economy in Zimbabwe, sometimes your brother in law cannot help it but borrow from the little amount you sent to build your home or send your daughter to school.

Ok, yes to remittances but what if someone in Zimbabwe owes you money and you are in China? What if you are renting out your Bulawayo home because you live in Pretoria? What if you are a student in Cyprus and you need mummy in Mutare to bail you out with US$100? Surely you need people to be able to send you money. Well, in Zimbabwe it is not very easy to send money outside the country particularly now that we have serious cash shortages and Nostro complications.

Enter Steward Bank – those people who owe you (Yes if you are a student in Cyprus, mummy owes you) can simply deposit your precious money into your Diaspora Account and it will be kept safe for you or you can access it using Mastercard or some of their partnerships with bankers in your country of residence.

5) Quality Service

How about the quality of service? It must be obvious that the further one is from the provider of a service the more the quality of that service deteriorates. In this information age, however, this is no longer a true assumption. People are visiting the bank a lot less frequently because of mobile and internet banking hence the quality of service I receive from my home in Chitungwiza is the same with that received by my aunt at her business in Mbare which is the same as the service you receive from your high-rise in New York City.

But hey, if my aunt wants personal contact with her bank she can easily do so, how about you in your high rise? Steward Bank has the innovative agency banking model for you to thank. Their Diaspora Banking Unit has more than 100 agents across the globe. These are fellow Zimbabweans who understand your fears and apprehensions, they receive regular training and updates about say: bond notes! This model allows the bank to maintain personal relationships with its client just as they would with a regular branch.

6) Family ties with EcoCash

The biggest distinct Steward Bank advantage is its relationship with EcoCash. This allows someone in Texas to directly send money to their grandmother in Tsholotsho without going through that dubious cousin in Harare. Steward Bank Diaspora Unit has a broad spectrum of tech-based transaction solutions on the books. This will give Zimbabweans in the diaspora more control over their financial transactions back home.

They also have solid partnerships with WorldRemit, Western Union, MoneyGram and Cassava which gives our foreign based cousins great flexibility when sending us money! Right now the Steward Bank app allows you to pay ZESA and other services. Which means there is no incentive for the house sitter to lie about electricity being switched off because one will simply buy a ZESA token from Johannesburg without sending the sitter cash directly.

Types of Diaspora Accounts

So what kind of accounts can one hold in Zimbabwe if they are residing elsewhere? Steward Bank is permitting diasporans to open Current Accounts with a minimum deposit of USD 20.00.

All that’s required is for the client to provide proof of residence and a valid Zimbabwean ID (passport, National ID or Driver’s Licence). Holders of this account will apparently have priority consideration for mortgages if ever these become available. Diasporans can also open Savings Accounts which have zero service charges. Student Accounts can be opened upon presentation of an offer letter from a university outside Zimbabwe and these have a minimum balance of only US$10.

There’s also the Diaspora Lite Account which is an amazing product suited to diasporans who cannot produce proof of residence. They only need to have a valid Zimbabwean ID (passport, national ID or driver’s license) to open this account. It is great that Steward Bank has included the non-regularised Zimbabwean ‘internationals’ with this product although the monthly transaction limit on this account is US$500.

(Source: Techzim)  http://bit.ly/2kmm8Y4