SSNUP project completion: financial inclusion of Zambian smallholder farmers

The FinScope 2020 Survey Report revealed that 43% of rural adults in Zambia are financially excluded, with women particularly affected. In addition, rural communities often lack financial literacy and business skills.

With the support of SSNUP impact investor Symbiotics, the commercial bank AB Bank Zambia (ABZ) implemented a project to address this situation by enabling rural and remote customers to access digital financial services via the bank’s mobile wallet platform eTumba.  

Face-to-face and digital services 

As part of the project, ABZ opened a rural main branch in the Chipata region and three satellite rural cashless branches in the Lusaka region. ABZ also formed strategic partnerships with agricultural aggregators such as agro-dealers to expand their client base. In addition, ABZ upgraded its service offering for farmers by introducing digital agricultural loans using an automated scoring system based on crop cards, promoted through the new satellite branches and disbursed through the eTumba platform. 

Financial education 

In addition to the new branches and the development of tailored digital financial services for farmers, ABZ needed to address the rural population's low levels of financial literacy and lack of business skills to facilitate the adoption and proper use of the new services.  

To this end, financial literacy programmes were broadcast live on radio to approximately 1.5 million people (42% women). The programmes covered diverse topics such as savings, keeping good business records, how to obtain an agricultural loan from a bank and improving business growth while protecting the environment.

Promising outlook 

5,127 clients (56% women) accessed the eTumba platform through partnerships with major agricultural enterprises, and 1,327 rural clients (77% smallholder farmers and 52% women) obtained loans as part of the project. While ABZ struggled to reach out to clients in the project timeframe due to travel restrictions during the COVID pandemic, the rollout of services in rural areas has since gained traction. ABZ has opened further branches across the province and in other regions, sought new partnerships with previously shortlisted agro stakeholders and conducted an agricultural insurance market analysis to integrate insurance into its services.