By Gracious Chitakata, a Contributor
National Bank of Malawi (NBM) Plc has been recognized with the Green Energy Finance award during the Green Finance Conference by Africa Guarantee Fund (AGF) in Lilongwe last week.
The Bank’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Commercial Officer (DCEO/CCO), Harold Jiya hailed the partnership with AGF saying the recognition is a result of the Bank’s efforts in lending and financing green energy businesses.
“AGF has helped us take on more risk that we don’t ordinarily take particularly when lending to SMEs. Through the green guarantee facility, we have been able to lend to Green SMEs and become a prominent player and game-changer in green energy financing such as pay as you go solar aggregators, off grids and solar farm players.”
“As the Bank of the Nation, we take pride in such recognition as it reflects on our mission to inspire greatness in the lives of Malawians including the green energy sector,” said Jiya.
AGF’s Group CEO, Jules Ngankam acknowledged the partnership with NBM Plc that has enabled them to offer products and services that are in line with the green transition.
“The green transition is defining a new way of living, a new way of doing business, a new way of exchanging goods and services. At the core of this green transition, we have the commercial banks and we are proud that NBM Plc is at the forefront of driving Malawi’s green economy,” said Ngankam.
AGF is a specialized guarantee provider whose mission is to facilitate economic development and poverty reduction in Africa through increased access to finance for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) across key economic sectors through its guarantee products and capacity development assistance.
The conference in Malawi was attended by Ministries of Finance, and Energy, Reserve Bank of Malawi officials, Bankers Association of Malawi (BAM) members, Green SME project owners, Green Energy experts and others.
