This year Steward Bank celebrates its 8th anniversary. Biblically the number 8 is considered to be a symbol of the beginning of new things. As we reflect, this is a fitting depiction of the position we find ourselves in at this time.

“We are privileged to not only be witnessing but actively participating in such a pivotal season for the Bank. Having successfully launched the Purple Ark, we have stepped into a phase where our thoughts and work are framed by the vision to digitally transform our services. We draw inspiration from the 8 people in Noah’s Ark that survived the Biblical great flood, with the duty to begin a new life after the flood. Turning 8 so soon after our system upgrade marks a new beginning,” said Mr. Mashavave, Steward Bank’s CEO.

Steward Bank transitioned from TN Bank in 2013 following its acquisition by Econet Wireless Zimbabwe in 2012. The Bank is now part of the Cassava Smartech group as of December 2018.  Cassava Smartech’s mandate is to use digital solutions to drive socio-economic development, and to improve the overall quality of life for all Africans. Over the years, Steward Bank’s work has been steeped in this same mandate: to be a pioneer in the country’s digital banking space. We have positioned ourselves to drive financial inclusion, demystify banking, and integrate banking services into everyday life for our customers.

Our passion for financial inclusion has given us the drive to make banking accessible to every Zimbabwean no matter their location. From the start, our banking requirements and account opening process were easy; one of our product offerings was the iSave account, which requires only an ID to open. As a result, we experienced tremendous growth in a short space of time as many members of society gained access to banking facilities, some for the very first time.

To ensure we were able to offer our wide customer base a seamless and convenient banking experience, we began to work on implementing a number of innovations that would position us as a fully-fledged Digital Bank. This path has led Steward Bank to several opportunities for revolutionary innovation. Since then we have introduced the Kwenga, a low-cost, pocket-sized point of sale device; Batsi,  one of Zimbabwe’s first customer service chatbots; digital account opening with the launch of *236# banking; PurpleKonnect, a video banking service; and Kashagi, an instant loan.

In October 2019, Steward Bank embarked on a journey that will always be a significant part of our history. Influenced by the need to keep up with world-class standards in offering tailor-made and efficient customer experience to our clients, the Purple Ark was born. This is the biggest Core Banking System upgrade the Bank has undertaken since its inception. As we were still setting the groundwork for the cutover, the COVID-19 virus broke out. We were not to be deterred, rather, the global pandemic cemented our resolve to successfully cutover and explore the new opportunities for digital transformation in a lockdown world.

Steward Bank announced the successful launch of the Purple Ark in April 2021. With the achievement of this key milestone, the foundation work on which our digital transformation will stand was complete. Given the magnitude of the upgrade, teething problems were experienced on platforms like RTGS, however, the majority of our platforms like the Square App and *210# are experiencing faster processing times, much to the delight of our customers. Thanks to the increased capacity proffered by the upgrade, we are now able to offer Online Banking to our iSave customers, reducing the need to travel to a physical branch for the majority of our customers. Users of our Visa Globetrotter cards are now able to manage their cards via an app that allows customers to check their card balances, transfer funds from one card to another and perform crucial security functions like card blocking in the event of loss or theft of the card.

Looking ahead, we envision a future where technology will empower our customers to access more self-services tools and platforms, freeing up a lot more time to enjoy life without the hassle of queuing for banking services. We see our vision to be the premier provider of digital financial solutions suited to the needs of the diverse people of Zimbabwe becoming a deeply entrenched reality for our customers.

Here’s to the future!

Healthy Financial Habits.

It is Global Money Week and the focus is on ensuring that young people are financially literate, and are being provided with the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviours necessary to make sound financial decisions and ultimately achieve financial well-being and financial resilience. This year’s theme, “Take care of yourself, take care of your money”, reminds us of the need to build financial resilience and staying healthy in the current context. Let’s explore some of the habits that young people can start creating around their finances now and be thankful for well into adulthood.

You might be surprised at how the amount of ‘small change’ you spend impulsively can quickly add up to significantly eat into your income. Thankfully, there is a way to work around this by tracking your spending. There are applications that[NC1]  one can download onto their smartphone and update each time they spend money. Alternatively, always ask for your bank statement and especially if you transact directly from your account through your card and money transfers. If you do not have a smartphone, get in the habit of keeping all your receipts; at the end of the week, you can review these to see how much was spent and on what. Doing this for a month or two will give you a good idea of where most of your money is going and that can be a good starting point on building your budget.

There are different techniques or styles of budgeting, you might need to have a trial-and-error phase to see what works to your preference before settling. Some of the styles to explore include the envelope system, the 50/30/20 Rule, the snowball budget, digital budgeting, and reverse budgeting.  With all these, however, you must take note and record your net income as well as your recurring expenses. Setting up a budget, and sticking to it might be hard as you start but this will be such a smart financial decision in the long run.[NC2] 

Healthy Financial Habits.

It is Global Money Week and the focus is on ensuring that young people are financially literate, and are being provided with the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviours necessary to make sound financial decisions and ultimately achieve financial well-being and financial resilience. This year’s theme, “Take care of yourself, take care of your money”, reminds us of the need to build financial resilience and staying healthy in the current context. Let’s explore some of the habits that young people can start creating around their finances now and be thankful for well into adulthood.Track your spending.

You might be surprised at how the amount of ‘small change’ you spend impulsively can quickly add up to significantly eat into your income. Thankfully, there is a way to work around this by tracking your spending. There are applications that[NC1]  one can download onto their smartphone and update each time they spend money. Alternatively, always ask for your bank statement and especially if you transact directly from your account through your card and money transfers. If you do not have a smartphone, get in the habit of keeping all your receipts; at the end of the week, you can review these to see how much was spent and on what. Doing this for a month or two will give you a good idea of where most of your money is going and that can be a good starting point on building your budget.

There are different techniques or styles of budgeting, you might need to have a trial-and-error phase to see what works to your preference before settling. Some of the styles to explore include the envelope system, the 50/30/20 Rule, the snowball budget, digital budgeting, and reverse budgeting.  With all these, however, you must take note and record your net income as well as your recurring expenses. Setting up a budget, and sticking to it might be hard as you start but this will be such a smart financial decision in the long run.[NC2] 

The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected a lot of people’s incomes and it is expected that family and friends will turn to each other for help. Financial experts will, interestingly, always discourage borrowing, or lending money to family and friends. This is based on the damaging outcome this has should the repayment of the money be a problem for the borrowing party. If you should lend money, lend only what you can lose. It is best to treat such an arrangement as a gift.

There is a Shona slang adage, “Zvakachipa zvinodhura”, loosely translated to mean, cheap isn’t always a saving bargain. Always pay extra care to the quality and value of what you are spending your money on. The $2 bag might seem cheap but if you have to replace it after a month, then maybe just buy the one that costs $10 and will last you several years. Lower value goods are only a good decision if they are of good quality. The inverse is also true, do not be trapped into the thought pattern of assuming higher priced goods are of superior quality; a good eye and some research here will save you good money. Before you make a purchase, whenever possible, look up the reviews of the product, and ask trusted friends and family for their opinions and recommendations.[NC3] 

This is a soft skill that will be valuable in so many ways. If you feel scared to start doing this, you are not alone, you get better at it with practice. The beautiful thing is you lose nothing but stand to save a few dollars! The next time you are looking to buy at the local market, try negotiating the price down and have fun with it. Before you know it, you will be negotiating a salary, and what better way to make more money than to get more money?

Please add something about reviewing receipts at the end of the week to see how much was spent and on what etc (we need to include customers without smartphones) [NC1] [NC1]

Please attend to this sentence, it is incomplete [NC2] [NC2]

Please add something on word-of-mouth reviews from trusted friends and family in the search for quality goods [NC3] [NC3]

There is a Shona slang adage, “Zvakachipa zvinodhura”, loosely translated to mean, cheap isn’t always a saving bargain. Always pay extra care to the quality and value of what you are spending your money on. The $2 bag might seem cheap but if you have to replace it after a month, then maybe just buy the one that costs $10 and will last you several years. Lower value goods are only a good decision if they are of good quality. The inverse is also true, do not be trapped into the thought pattern of assuming higher priced goods are of superior quality; a good eye and some research here will save you good money. Before you make a purchase, whenever possible, look up the reviews of the product, and ask trusted friends and family for their opinions and recommendations.[NC3] 

This is a soft skill that will be valuable in so many ways. If you feel scared to start doing this, you are not alone, you get better at it with practice. The beautiful thing is you lose nothing but stand to save a few dollars! The next time you are looking to buy at the local market, try negotiating the price down and have fun with it. Before you know it, you will be negotiating a salary, and what better way to make more money than to get more money?

Please add something about reviewing receipts at the end of the week to see how much was spent and on what etc (we need to include customers without smartphones) [NC1] [NC1]

Please attend to this sentence, it is incomplete [NC2] [NC2]

Please add something on word-of-mouth reviews from trusted friends and family in the search for quality goods [NC3] [NC3]