TILUS Supermarket, a leading local retail chain store in Bulawayo, has entered into a partnership with another local financial services firm – Nandico – to provide credit facility to customers, Southern Eye Business has established.
MTHANDAZO NYONI OWN CORRESPONDENT The facility targeted at least 5 000 employees of the Bulawayo City Council and civil servants in and around Bulawayo by the end of 2015.
In an interview with Southern Eye Business yesterday, Nandico managing director Nhlanhla Ncube, said the establishment of the facility would go a long way in alleviating the plight of council employees and civil servants presently reeling from a nationwide cash crunch triggered by the deflation in the economy.
“Nandico was established for the sole purpose of providing an affordable alternative for the salaried people whose only other source of credit was microfinance establishments whose interest charges are often beyond reach for many employees,” Ncube said.
He said the Tilus supermarket credit facility was set to be the biggest supermarket-based stop order facility in Bulawayo with a targeted customer count of five thousand by end of 2015.
To achieve this, Ncube said Tilus had introduced low premium rates for the facility.
In partnership with Tilus, its drafters looked at a number of factors including Tilus’s branch network, its long trading hours and a shared vision in assisting cash-strapped government employees, he added.
Ncube, however, bemoaned the absence of a certified credit bureau in the country, saying it was a major setback for players in the sector.
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“There is no credible financial services credit bureau in this country. Therefore all players in the industry will find it hard to survive. The ease at which customers are able to move from one credit provider to the next without any checks is very disturbing. The problem is not only limited to micro creditors, but to banks as well.”
He appealed to the relevant authorities to expedite the establishment of such a bureau.
He also said they were being beset by challenges of liquidity crisis making it very difficult to secure lines of credit, as well as lack of disposable income by customers themselves.
Nandico has established partnerships in other towns like Plumtree where they have a similar arrangement with AJY Spar Plumtree – a major player in the retail sector.
Plans are at an advanced stage to establish similar facilities in Harare with one of the leading supermarket chains in the country.
