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When TIAW decided that South Africa might be a region in which to support local women entrepreneurs, the Microenterprise Committee conducted thorough research that led to our opening four Village Banks there, in 2002. These Village Banks are in the Lesedi Centre in the village of Motodi, Sebitsi Centre located in Bothashoek village, A-re-Agopola Centre in Driekop village, and Burgersfort.
Finding a suitable local managing partner to manage our Banks in South Africa, as elsewhere, requires careful detective work on behalf of our partners and all TIAW members. Indeed, the availability of a qualified local partner who works on site is one of several important ingredients that go into the decision to be able to support women in a particular location. Virginia Robinson, TIAW’s Regional Representative for Africa, conducted the due diligence in South Africa on behalf of TIAW. Based on Virginia’s findings, the Microenterprise Committee ultimately selected Small Enterprise Foundation (SEF).
Here, below, are excerpts from Virginia’s due diligence report to the Committee. Accompanying photos present a few representative women who comprise the members of TIAW’s four Village Banks. Photos and related specifics are drawn from a report provided by Tom Collins, the project intern working with SEF on our collective project. It’s easy to see how the TIAW funds that support these Microentrepreneurs also have a direct positive effect on their families and communities.
Due Diligence Report from Virginia Robinson.
“Two of the most prominent microfinance institutions in South Africa are the Small Enterprise Foundation (SEF) and FINCA, S.A. TIAW’s interest in South Africa blossomed when its Microenterprise Committee talked with John de Wit, Managing Director, SEF, while doing research under a grant at the James McGregor Burns Leadership Academy at the University of Maryland. The TIAW Committee was so impressed with the accomplishments of SEF that I was requested to visit Microenterprise operations of SEF as well as FINCA while on missions in South Africa.
SEF - The women leaders and members of the Microenterprise Centre near Tzaneen, S.A. conducted their business of repaying loans, preparing savings deposits, describing entrepreneurial activities, and evaluating potential members of the Centre in a most impressive manner. Following that experience, I visited the SEF headquarters. SEF, a non-profit, non-government organization dedicated to ending poverty and unemployment has been disbursing loans since January 1992. The groups had impressive payback records with virtually no delinquencies and they had excellent savings. There were no bad debt write-offs during the period under review, 1998. After studying the audit report, I talked to the partner in charge of the SEF audit. He commented favorably about SEF’s financial as well as operating performance in terms of economy, effectiveness, and efficiency.
FINCA – At the time of my visit to the Microcredit Village Operation on June 5, 2001, in Durban, S.A., that arm of FINCA had been in business for one year and started lending in August 2000. While FINCA, S.A. is autonomous, it uses national policies of FINCA headquarters. However, no cash flow statement had been prepared and no comparative figures had been presented, as this was the company’s first period of operation. The Annual Financial Statements also did not show any performance measures such as the amount or number of loans issued.
Although the international FINCA organization has an excellent record of achievements over a long period, (and it is a TIAW partner for projects elsewhere in the world), FINCA, S.A. was still in its infancy at the time of my visit. TIAW’s Microenterprise Committee ultimately chose SEF because of its local accomplishments over a sustained period of time and its excellent international reputation.” – V.R.
TIAW thanks the Financial Women’s Association of New York who made the funding for our Village Banks in South Africa possible. This is the FWA’s second contribution to TIAW’s Microenterprise Project. |
