By Pempho Kantayeni & Joyce Menyere

Lilongwe, January 14, Mana: Parliamentary Committee on Trade, Industry and Tourism is impressed with the progress that NBS Bank has made in implementing the Financial Inclusion and Entrepreneurship Scaling (FInES) project, funded by the World Bank.

The Bank is giving out loans to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) at a lower interest rate of 11 percent to boost entrepreneur’s businesses across the country. 

Speaking Tuesday after inspecting some of the beneficiaries of the project, Chairperson for the committee, Paul Nkhoma, said the subsidised loans provided by NBS Bank on behalf of the Reserve Bank of Malawi, are crucial in achieving the Malawi 2063 as the project helps in boosting trade  and industry by providing a head start to entrepreneurs to enhance their businesses. 

"We are looking to create a lot of self-reliant entrepreneurs that create employment thereby generating an economy that is functional by 2063. We are pleased with the progress and records as one of the beneficiaries of this project was able to employ 40 employees after getting the loan,” he said.

Nkhoma said one of the key objectives of FInES is import substitution so that the country saves forex as well as exporting products manufactured by the beneficiaries of the project.

In an interview with one of the beneficiaries at Kanengo in Lilongwe, owner for Wood-Be-Nice furniture company, Chipha Bwanali, said the loan has helped his furniture business by improving cash flow and increasing the company's production capacity. 

"With this money, we are able to produce more. Even the range of things that we are producing has also improved, sales have gone up, and this has translated in employment,” he said.

FInES project, which ends in September 2025, has seen NBS Bank disbursing K5.3 billion of K5.9 billion to SMEs.