Empower Entrepreneurs in South Africa

With 43% of the population living on less than $2 per day and 10% of the South Africans holding 80% of the country’s wealth, those at the bottom of the economic pyramid lack meaningful access to formal banking services. Currently, Opportunity South Africa operates 10 branches that provide a variety of services to SMEs, equipping entrepreneurs with critical microfinance tools that build successful businesses, generate employment and create thriving communities.

In 2013, Opportunity South Africa has a fundraising need of $526,520. Funding will enable Opportunity Finance South Africa (OFSA) to launch School Proprietor loans in 2013 and increase rural expansion and outreach efforts.

Education Finance –OFSA designed and launched the School Fee loan product in response to the identified need within the rural communities surrounding Pietermaritzburg and Durban. The newly piloted School Fee loan portfolio is very healthy with a PAR>30 of 1-2%. In 2013, OFSA is set to launch School Improvement loans.

SME Loans – Opportunity South Africa supports talented enterprises with loans that generate employment opportunities within their respective communities.

Rural Expansion – Opportunity South Africa is focused on expanding its distribution network into rural townships and has opened five kiosks. These kiosks are located in building supply and hardware stores as these tend to be focal points where clients purchase equipment and supplies. The first of these kiosks, based in Hammarsdale Township, paid out 12 loans, valued at $15,000, in its first month of operation. Additionally, OFSA launched its first mobile bank in 2012.

Eleven of Opportunity South Africa’s Pietermaritzburg branch clients are members of the Gcumisa Cooperative, six men and five women. The Gcumisa Cooperative is located in a rural community outside the small town of Wartburg. The main crop of this area is sugarcane and most of the land is leased out to growers by the village chiefs. Zulu is the language spoken in this community where families live in traditional round huts without the benefit of running water.

The Gcumisa Cooperative farmers grow potatoes and maize. Thanks to your generosity, since receiving their first loan of $300 each, have increased their harvest enough to open a produce stall in the busy Durban marketplace.

Nora, (left) the group’s chairlady, grows maize; her neighbor Norgusa (blue dress) is her friend and a farmer as well. The cooperative farms 60 hectares between them. Each member also plants a plot to provide food for their families. Today, the group is on their fourth loan which they used to purchase high quality seed and fertilizer. The members are each turning a profit and have agreed to use future loans to purchase a tractor and fund an irrigation system so they can increase their production.