MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: ResponsAbility Investments Loans $15m to Trustco of Namibia for Education Funding

ResponsAbility Investments AG, a Swiss company specializing in investments in areas such as fair trade, recently informed MicroCapital that it has agreed to loan USD 15 million to Trustco Group Holdings Limited (Trustco), a company based in Windhoek, Namibia, that specializes in microfinance, micro-insurance and financial education.The loan will primarily be used to support the activities of Trustco Finance Proprietary Limited, a subsidiary of Trustco responsible for financing students studying remotely through the Institute of Open Learning, another subsidiary of Trustco. Amongst the courses students can choose from are business, information technology and educational courses.

For the financial year ended March 31, 2015, Trustco reported total assets of NAD 3 billion (approximately USD 191 million), return on assets of 10 percent, return on equity of 20 percent and net income of NAD 303 million (approximately USD 19 million). As of March 2016, responsAbility reported total assets under management of approximately USD 3 billion.

By Imke Herholdt, Research Associate

About responsAbility Investments AG (responsAbility)
Founded in 2003, responsAbility Investments AG is a Swiss investment company whose products aim to enable investors to earn a financial return while assisting people in emerging markets to access information and services in sectors such as microfinance, small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) financing, fair trade and independent media. As of March 2016, responsAbility reported total assets under management of approximately USD 3 billion. responsAbility is backed by Swiss financial institutions and a social venture capital company as founders and shareholders including Baumann & Cie, Banquiers, Credit Suisse, Raiffeisen Schweiz, Swiss Re, Bank Vontobel AG as well as George Avenue. Among other entities, responsAbility Investments manages responsAbility
Participations AG, a public limited investment company that was founded in 2012. ResponsAbility Participations’ shareholders include German development bank Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) and unspecified pension funds and Swiss banks.

About Trustco Group Holdings Limited (Trustco)
Trustco Group Holdings is a Namibia-based company that specializes in microfinance, micro-insurance and financial education. The company operates through several subsidiaries, including Trustco Bank, Trustco Finance (Pty) Limited, the Institute for Open Learning, Trustco Insurance Limited and Trustco Life Limited. For the financial year ended March 31, 2015, Trustco reported total assets of NAD 3 billion (approximately USD 191 million), return on assets of 10 percent, return on equity of 20 percent and net income of NAD 303 million (approximately USD 19 million).

Sources and Additional Resources
[1] Information provided directly to MicroCapital by responsibility Investments AG
[2] MicroCapital Universe Profile: responsAbility Investments AG
[3] MicroCapital Universe Profile: Trustco Group Holdings
[4] Trusto Group Holdings
[5] Financial Times: Trustco Group Holdings Ltd

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