Online Reporter
Patrick Chitumba
INDIGENOUS Advisory Practitioners Association of Zimbabwe (IAPAZ) Professionals Savings and Credit Cooperative Society has launched a women’s desk aimed at addressing systemic barriers faced by women in finance and leadership.
In an interview, Ms Success Nkobi Moyo, the Junior Vice President of IAPAZ, framed the desk as a necessary intervention rather than a symbolic gesture.
“IIAPAZ Professionals Savings and Credit Cooperative (IAPAZ Pro SACCO) has officially established a dedicated women’s desk, a permanent structure mandated to champion female members’ economic empowerment and inclusion,” she said.
Ms Moyo said the initiative is detailed in a newly ratified Terms of Reference (ToR) document, which aims to create a premier platform within the SACCO to ensure the full, effective, and equal participation of women in socio-economic development.
“This is not just another committee; it is a strategic imperative. Our research and engagement with members consistently show that women professionals and entrepreneurs juggle dual responsibilities of business and household management, which require uniquely tailored financial and social solutions. The Women’s Desk is our vehicle to deliberately design and deliver those solutions,” she explained.
Ms Moyo said IAPAZ Pro SACCO, a brainchild of the IAPAZ association, which draws members from a wide array of professionals, traders, and entrepreneurs, positions the desk as a core part of its governance structure. The national executive of the desk, she said, will report directly to the main SACCO management committee, the supreme decision-making organ between annual general meetings (AGMs).
“The Desk will have its own elected leadership—a Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer, Organiser and crucially, a Legal Advisor. It will drive innovation, proposing tailored financial products like ‘Women-in-Business Loans,’ asset finance schemes, and crowd-pooling initiatives for collective investment in real assets,” she said.
Ms Moyo said the ToR outlines an ambitious mandate for the desk that extends beyond loans.
She said its core objectives include spearheading membership growth and retention among women, conducting financial literacy workshops, establishing a formal mentorship programme and advocating for gender-sensitive policies within the SACCO’s operations.
“Our mission is to build financial resilience. This means going beyond access to credit. It’s about capacity building, creating social safety nets, and most importantly, ensuring that the concerns and ideas of our women members are channeled directly into the highest decision-making committees of the SACCO,” she said.
Ms Moyo said the establishment of the desk comes at a time when national conversations around gender parity in economic participation are gaining momentum.
By embedding this focus within a cooperative society model, which is inherently based on principles of equality and solidarity, IAPAZ Pro SACCO, she said, aims to create a replicable model for others.
“The initial executive will be appointed by the management committee and ratified at the next AGM, with subsequent leaders to be elected by the membership,” she said.
When asked about measures to ensure the desk’s effectiveness and avoid bureaucratic inertia, Ms Moyo pointed to strict accountability frameworks.
“The desk will operate on an approved annual budget and its financials will be subject to the same rigorous internal and external audit as the main SACCO. They will be required to submit quarterly reports to our Management Committee and an annual report to the AGM. This is about accountable, results-driven empowerment.” she said.
The success of the Women’s Desk will be closely watched by stakeholders as a benchmark for how financial institutions can structurally address gender disparities and unlock the economic potential of women professionals and entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe.
