Access Bank Tanzania Master Card Foundation

completed

This project will provide a combination of technical assistance and grants to Access Bank Tanzania to scale its operations through geographic expansion into interior Tanzania (including the Lake Zone and other regions), agriculture product development, and mobile channel development (including agency banking). Before mobile and agency banking are actively rolled out, the project will offer technical assistance for the development of mobile and agency banking management strategy, business model for the channels, and a work plan for the strategy. The project fits under the broader context of IFC and The MasterCard Foundation (MCF) program to scale microfinance activities in Africa (the Program). The Program objectives include consolidating the operations of microfinance institutions to position them for accelerated growth, enabling these institutions to sustainably achieve greater outreach over time through a broader range of services and channels. The Program recognizes the challenges faced by microfinance institutions when they decide to expand into new regions and products including the high cost of opening and operating new branches, inadequate product offering, and insufficient support for agent and satellite offices.