Old Mutual (OM), the largest financial services provider in South Africa, recently released a press release announcing a donation of ZAR 5 million (USD 710,000) to the Women’s Development Bank (WDB) Microfinance, a South African non-governmental organization (NGO) that provides micro-loans and training for poor, rural women.
The donation stems from OM’s Masisizane Fund, a nonprofit company created following the closure of OM’s Unclaimed Shares Trust, and represents the fourth partnership it has formed with like-minded organizations. Old Mutual has set aside ZAR 300 million (USD 42.7 million) of the Fund’s total ZAR 400 million (USD 57 million) exclusively for the development of women-owned enterprises.
The main purpose of the donation is to enable WDB to expand microfinance into rural KwaZulu-Natal, where Old Mutual will provide women with free financial education and WDB will provide them business training and support while encouraging them to open savings accounts. According to Rojie Kisten, director of the Masisizane initiative, supported enterprises will include small-scale farming, poultry, vegetable gardens, and sewing and baking businesses.
Per agreement between OM and WDB, loans of ZAR 300 to 4000 (USD 43 to 570) will be made to groups of five women, and individual loans ranging from ZAR 4000 to 10,000 (USD 570 1,424) to select clients, both with repayment periods of four to nine months.
Old Mutual has a history of more than 150 years as a South African mutual society prior to its public listing in 1999. Its international services and products include investment, insurance, asset management, banking, and healthcare, and are available to individuals, businesses, and corporations. According to its 2005 year-end financial report, OM had total assets of USD 160 billion, net profits of USD 2.2 billion, and basic earnings per share of USD .50. Old Mutual currently has operations in India, China, Western Europe, South America, United Kingdom, United States, and other parts of Africa. It is led by CEO Jim Sutclifee, CFO Jonathan Nicolls, and Managing Director of South Africa Paul Hanratty.
WDB began operations in 1991 as a small microfinance organization. The Group is currently comprised of WDB Microfinance (WDBMF), WDB Trust, and WDB Investment Holdings (WDBIH). WDBMF was established in 1992 and follows the Grameen Bank model of group lending. It offers two types of loan programs, namely the Livelihoods program, which targets the poorest of the poor (less than 50 percent of the South African poverty standard of ZAR 132 (USD 18.7) monthly per capita; and the Enterprise program, which enables women to advance from basic income generation to business operation. Since its inception, WDBMF has trained more than 12,000 women in financial and business education. Financial information and ratings are not available as WDB does not currently report to a third-party performance evaluator.
By Mary Fu
Additional Resources:
Old Mutual: Press Release – “OM donates R5m to WDB”
Old Mutual: About Us
Bloomberg: Currency Converter
Old Mutual: 2005 Financial Report
WDB Microfinance: About Us
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