Centenary bank moves to support school owners and parents as schools resume

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Centenary Bank has announced it is offering affordable Cente education product for parents, students and school proprietors in a bid to cushion their financial burden as schools re-open.

The bank, the largest commercial microfinance bank in Uganda, has said the Cente education product is available to all account holders.

“It is tailor made for the ordinary Ugandan that had a rather rough start of the year, with school tuition obligations as students resume studies,” said Juliet Baggya Nsiyona, the Manager SME banking at Centenary Bank.

Speaking during the Back to School Expo held at the ICT Institute in Nakawa, Baggya Nsiyona explained how students can access these loans.

“The students that already have the Cente Junior accounts with us are able to access this loan at 150% of their savings on the account. Those that do not have accounts but have parents with accounts in Centenary bank can access the Cente education loans,” note Baggya.

Baggya went ahead to explain that these loans are processed really fast and all the parents have to do is provide a proof of their availability of a source of income.

“Our loan tenure is favorable, flexible and dependent on the cash flow cycle of the person re-paying the loan. The interest is favorable, competitive and negotiable depending on the nature of the loan,” she said.

Regarding the requirement of the loans, one needs to have an account in Centenary bank, proof of a source of income, an admission letter for the student, a national ID and a financial credit card.

The bank also put in place products to cushion school owners and proprietors in these hard times.

“When it comes to access to finance, we start with short term bridge financing where we avail school owners close to 500 million with the payment tagged to the school account cash flows. In addition to this, we provide term loans that can support the schools with infrastructural development projects, then we have the asset financing facility and staff facility with subsidized borrowing rates.” Baggya cited.

She said Centenary bank is committed to its wide customer base and has come up with these initiatives to help its clients with credit facilities to get it through the tough times.