Agritech Expo round-up by Judith Namutowe –

ZANACO Bank mobile application has recorded over 50,000 downloads from the time it was launched to date.
And the Bank’s loan portfolio in the agriculture sector currently stands at $60 million.
Chief commercial officer Lishala Situmbeko said there has been in excess of 50,000 downloads on the Bank Here Mobile App which enables the public to bank wherever they are.
Mr Situmbeko said during the 2018 Agritech Expo in Chisamba at the weekend that there has been overwhelming response from members of the public from the time the Mobile App was launched to date.
He said Zanaco was looking at digitalisation from the mobile perspective as to what the customer was able to do on their mobile phones.
Roughly over 90 per cent of the possible transactions customers were able to conduct on the mobile phone.
“This is part of digitalisation and what we are saying is that, we want the customer to take more control of their banking needs, we want the customer to be able to have more convenience in how they do their banking needs at the place and time of their choice.
“Essentially what is going on for us as a bank is that over the years…. banking needs of our customers have been going through an evolution and obviously from our point of view, our job is to position ourselves to be able to meet banking changing needs of our clients.
Mr Situmbeko said some of the needs that have been evolving over time included the need to be able to transact more efficiently as customers need innovative financial solutions.
He said the bank introduced an extended electronic banking platform and enhancing its distribution from a branch perspective.
Mr Situmbeko said Zanaco had started rolling out depositing Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) with about 20 to 30 per cent of their portfolio having such facilities.
He said the bank already had a depositing ATM at East Park Mall in Lusaka and that all the eight branches that were coming up within the next one month would have that facility, saying all this was aimed at ensuring that the lives of the banks customers were made easy.