A Women's Bank of Africa – the first of its kind – was officially launched as a financial cooperative in East London at the weekend.
The WBoA has passed a preliminary assessment by the Cooperative Bank Development Agency, and now awaits approval by the South African Reserve Bank before it can go all out and become commercial.
The bank, which currently boasts close to 300 members, was founded and self-funded by a group of professional women working in different sectors from around the country.
The group has also formed partnerships with women in other African countries, including Zambia and Ethiopia.
The cooperative, which is not exclusive to women, will be based in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
Bea Hackula, WBoA’s chairwoman and president of Africa for Africa Women, said their aim was to inform and empower African women towards being financially free.
“WBoA is fully aware of the challenges of sustaining small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and cooperative support within the existing development agencies. Our strategy extends a hand to help administer financial services, which would not normally be a priority for these agencies.
“We will provide support and capacity building for funded SMEs and cooperatives,” she said.
Ethiopia’s Enat Bank founder and board member, Nigest Haile Goshu, who signed a memorandum of understanding with Africa for Africa Women to provide guidance and support, said if women were economically empowered, everything else would fall into place.
“In Ethiopia when we were starting our bank, we were at the bottom of 16 other private banks and because we were women, we were a mockery.
“Today we have 39 branches all over our country and we are commercially visible and that helps us with our mandate to serve women,” she said, adding that she was happy to hold hands with the South African women as they make history in the sector.
Hackula said WBoA had within its membership expertise and capacity to support and grow community cooperatives.
“The Small Enterprise Finance Agency, the Human Settlement Development Bank , and the Eastern Cape Rural Development Agency are some of the potential partners where WBoA can act as a subsidiary to expedite the reach of their services to the most remote areas of our country,” she said.
“We are now working towards reaching the cooperative finance stage within 18 months from the date of launch.
“We intend to grow our membership within the first year to a minimum 1000 and every member will have their own savings account for monthly subscription of shares for 24 months,” she added.
The initiative is part of the resolutions that emerged from the Africa for Africa Women’s Conference held last year.
“We have thoroughly studied the legislative framework applicable to South Africa as per National Treasury and South African Reserve Bank guidelines regarding the establishment of a bank and understood that we need to start as a cooperative financial institution, then move to a cooperative bank and then a commercial bank as the last stage,” Hackula said. — mbalit@dispatch.co.za
New bank formed by professionals from different sectors set to empower women
The WBoA has passed a preliminary assessment by the Cooperative Bank Development Agency, and now awaits approval by the South African Reserve Bank before it can go all out and become commercial.
The bank, which currently boasts close to 300 members, was founded and self-funded by a group of professional women working in different sectors from around the country.
The group has also formed partnerships with women in other African countries, including Zambia and Ethiopia.
The cooperative, which is not exclusive to women, will be based in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
Bea Hackula, WBoA’s chairwoman and president of Africa for Africa Women, said their aim was to inform and empower African women towards being financially free.
“WBoA is fully aware of the challenges of sustaining small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and cooperative support within the existing development agencies. Our strategy extends a hand to help administer financial services, which would not normally be a priority for these agencies.
“We will provide support and capacity building for funded SMEs and cooperatives,” she said.
Ethiopia’s Enat Bank founder and board member, Nigest Haile Goshu, who signed a memorandum of understanding with Africa for Africa Women to provide guidance and support, said if women were economically empowered, everything else would fall into place.
“In Ethiopia when we were starting our bank, we were at the bottom of 16 other private banks and because we were women, we were a mockery.
“Today we have 39 branches all over our country and we are commercially visible and that helps us with our mandate to serve women,” she said, adding that she was happy to hold hands with the South African women as they make history in the sector.
Hackula said WBoA had within its membership expertise and capacity to support and grow community cooperatives.
“The Small Enterprise Finance Agency, the Human Settlement Development Bank , and the Eastern Cape Rural Development Agency are some of the potential partners where WBoA can act as a subsidiary to expedite the reach of their services to the most remote areas of our country,” she said.
“We are now working towards reaching the cooperative finance stage within 18 months from the date of launch.
“We intend to grow our membership within the first year to a minimum 1000 and every member will have their own savings account for monthly subscription of shares for 24 months,” she added.
The initiative is part of the resolutions that emerged from the Africa for Africa Women’s Conference held last year.
“We have thoroughly studied the legislative framework applicable to South Africa as per National Treasury and South African Reserve Bank guidelines regarding the establishment of a bank and understood that we need to start as a cooperative financial institution, then move to a cooperative bank and then a commercial bank as the last stage,” Hackula said. — mbalit@dispatch.co.za
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending Now
Latest Videos