The vision of establishing ACB was conceived by a discussion group which established itself in the late 80s comprising of individuals with varied interests and background brought together by a unified vision to see indigenous Tanzanians empowered economically.

The group realized that to achieve genuine economic uplift an institution would need to be established on a sound, reliable foundation to serve this paramount purpose.

In that period, the very idea of an indigenous owned and operated financial institution seemed to many a far-fetched dream, thus galvanizing faith and support in such a venture proved but a mountain to move. Even the international community represented in the country at the time didn’t harbor interest in addressing the challenges that such an institution would ultimately help solve among ordinary citizens.

Nevertheless, the group’s determination persevered and from that strand of adamancy Akiba Commercial Bank Plc (ACB) was born. Following its registration as a company, the group proceeded to seek prospective investors in Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, Arusha, Moshi, Mbeya, and Dodoma. This effort didn’t yield much fruit as a consequence of skepticism borne out the belief that local citizens couldn’t establish, own, and operate their own bank. It was then decided to pursue local public corporations to own the bank and share its vision with the group. Only three corporations, NIC, PPF, and TDFL responded proactively, however their subscriptions couldn’t satisfy the required capital threshold, leaving the entire effort still wanting.

This unique situation eventually compelled the group to invite foreign entities into ownership of the bank but with conditions favourable to the interests of indigenous investors first. A few institutions accepted the arrangement, and these were FMO and Triodos Bank of the Netherlands, and later INCOFIN of Belgium, and SIDI of France. It was this partnership that served as the bedrock for the successful rise of ACB, a bank that has since grown from strength to strength and is now focusing on becoming a significant institution in the banking sector in Tanzania.