AFRICA
( AI ). Its scheme , Facebook Banking , launched in March , will further seek to address frequent customer queries the company will receive .
“ We ’ re trying to make sure that banking is digitised and is made relevant to the customer . Reducing friction and moving people more towards artificial intelligence will enable us to analyse the data received and look at potential areas of improvement surrounding the customer experience ,” comments Mambondiani .
“ AI is definitely a big part of our strategy . Our intention is to scale our number of customers from approximately half a million to around a million by the close of this financial year .”
SME ENGAGEMENT Whilst Steward Bank works to tailor its services which are left sidelined by other financial institutions , it is also looking at developing its services towards the flourishing SME space .
The development of the company ’ s ZamaZama accounts has therefore been packaged to include all the services an emerging SME would need to succeed , whilst promoting collaboration across the board .
Built out of co-creation , Steward Bank has recognised the need to provide SMEs with tailored support on a number of areas : how they can open a bank account , build a website , address the challenges around access to market , write business plans and much more . “ It ’ s almost like banking in a box in that we provide financial literacy ,” adds Mambondiani .
“ We also provide web development capabilities through Mozilla . Partnering with four other group entities within the Econet family , we looked at delivering the services which we knew SMEs wanted . We didn ’ t want to just give SMEs a loan , we wanted to give them the tools of understanding what a balance sheet is or how to manage their resources .”
To instil positive relationships and create a constructive learning culture , SMEs are further encouraged to utilise an incubation pod at the bank . Operating every Friday , it enables SMEs to meet , share ideas and access vital expertise both through
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