NICO Group launches its 50th anniversary celebration media visibility campaign

NICO Group has officially launched its 50th anniversary celebration media visibility campaign as one of engaging with the public that it is geared to continue being the most diverse financial services firm in Malawi.

At the launch on Monday at Ryalls Hotel in Blantyre, Group Managing Director Vizenge Kumwenda took cognizance that the past 18 months have been a challenging period for businesses the world over through the CoVID-19 pandemic, as businesses have all been forced to be more creative in how they do business, how they communicate and how they deliver our services.

“Despite this new challenge, I am proud to say that the NICO Group has, so far, managed to continue to deliver superior financial products to our customers and to maintain our entire staff complement.

NICO Group Managing Director Vizenge Kumwenda launching the campaign

“This is no mean achievement in these trying times and is largely due to the strength and stability of the Group, which includes NBS Bank and Eris Properties.”

Kumwenda said NICO Group’s diversity — providing general and life insurance, pension administration services, banking, asset and capital management and infrastructure development and property management services — “is the source of our strength and competitive advantage”.

“Our customers’ continued patronage in all our businesses has also minimized the impact of the pandemic on our businesses thus far.”

He said they were truly grateful for their customers’ belief in all their brands and as 2021 is a special year in the NICO journey — celebrating it 50th anniversary, saying “this golden anniversary is a very important milestone”.

“There are many stories of brands that were perceived to be strong when they started out, only to fail to withstand various pressures presented by the markets within which they were operating.

“It is, therefore, quite an achievement for NICO to still be standing strong, or perhaps even stronger, after 5 decades.

“The journey has not been without its challenges, and at times the future indeed looked bleak for some of our businesses. The fact that we are remain a force to be reckoned with in the market is testament to the strong foundation upon which the brand is built.”

He highlighted that NICO is the pioneer in financial services in many regards as it was the first company to list on the Malawi Stock Exchange in 1996 and is the first Malawian multinational when it established NICO Zambia in 1997.

It is also the first to build a multipurpose shopping centre, Chichiri Mall, in 2000 and the first to list its subsidiary company, ICON Properties, on the Malawi Stock Exchange, after a 10-year period of no new listings in 2019.

“This pioneering spirit has led the NICO brand to become a major contributor to national development in Malawi, with activities that include several watershed projects.

“One of the most recent of these is NBS Bank’s role as the financier of the new Interchange in Lilongwe. We are proud to be an integral part of Malawi’s story and as we celebrate our 50th anniversary, we are also looking ahead, with plans to grow our businesses as well as to charter into new territories.

“In this quest, the aim is to continue to provide relevant, affordable and innovative financial solutions to our customers – both at an individual, corporate and national level.”

In her presentation, NICO Group’s Corporate Affairs Manager Mbumba Mlia-Ndasauka unveiled that the media campaign’s concept — ‘The One’ — is to position NICO as “first choice in financial services as it portrays the brand’s strength and stability”.

The concept also portrays the diversity and relevance of the brand in terms of product provision at every stage of customers’ lives as “NICO is ‘The One’ that has been helping people reach their dreams”.

“NICO is ‘The One’ that has been providing diverse financial solutions since 1971. NICO is ‘The One’ that secures lifetime experiences by providing relevant solutions at every stage of a person’s life.

“NICO is ‘The One’ leading in the financial market — first on MSE listing, through NICO Holdings plc, NBS Bank Plc, Icon Properties. NICO is ‘The One’ that changed the shopping experience in Malawi through building the Chichiri Mall and NICO is ‘The One’ that stepped beyond borders as the first Malawian multinational company.

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