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Mr Morris Mpala

Business Reporter
BULAWAYO headquartered micro-finance institution, MoB Capital Limited, has championed the first in-store micro-finance facility in Zimbabwe through a synergy with Choppies Stores Zimbabwe.

The exclusive initiative will see MoB Capital clients being able to access micro-finance services and buy groceries on credit in selected Choppies’ retail outlets in the country.

“This is a new facility in the country where a micro-finance system will operate inside a retail shop just like it is done with mainstream banking,” MoB Capital managing director Mr Morris Mpala said.

“What this means is that our clients will have access to our services anywhere starting with Choppies Bellevue as the flagship outlet. This initiative is meant to spread across Bulawayo at selected branches and countrywide. The arrangement is strictly for Choppies shops.”

Mr Mpala said under the arrangement their clients could access all their services in-store with the support of their personnel deployed at the retail shops.

“Through this initiative we’re also introducing the stop order/debit order facility, which will be available at Choppies. This enables our clients to buy groceries on credit within selected Choppies shops in the country,” he said.

For now it is using the voucher system, which will in the future employ a pre-loaded plastic card strictly for use in Choppies Stores countrywide.

“The facility is exclusively run by MoB capital and is the first. We also have a vendor empowerment programme in which we offer them furniture, small loans, train them and assist them in running businesses where they can offer airtime, prepaid parking discs, Wi-Fi tokens, bills payment, pre-paid electricity and insurance services using a tablet even on the street corner to aide financial inclusion through convenience,” said Mpala.

MoB Capital offers a variety of loans for agriculture projects, small businesses, and individual consumption loans and women projects. The firm also offers advisory services on company registration, tax issues, and small to medium enterprise training and incubation as well as indigenisation compliance through the Zimbabwe Investment Authority.

It also offers basic insurance services, both long and short term, in partnership with reputable and established brands such as Old Mutual. MoB

Capital also offers financial/business intelligence and Intercape/Pathfinder luxury coaches to complete the services under one roof.

Their services also include money transfers in and out of Zimbabwe from more than 10 countries regionally and worldwide.

Mr Mpala said the in-store initiative was part of measures to increase access to financial services to marginalised communities.