Extract:
"There are presently atleast 20,000 V.S.L.A’s in the country based on a report by Care Uganda each with capability to save if not already saved Ugx. 500,000. Together, that is atleast Ugx. 10B which through the Finablr for V.S.L.A initiative can be additional credit capital to the economy. Assuming they are lending at even as little as 3% per month, that would be about Ugx. 300M being repatriated to Uganda’s rural society."
Introduction
Finablr for Village Saving and Loans Associations is an initiative by EFL that utilizes the technology presented by Finablr to enhance village/rural saving groups’ earning potential by linking them to borrowers in external ‘economies’ to theirs pre-dominantly urban where borrowers generally have better cashflow and collateral than the typical rural borrower; both factors that significantly increase borrower credibility and ability to repay.
The rationale behind EFL’s ‘Finablr for V.S.L.A’ initiative is that as opposed to rural dwellers solely saving and lending amongst themselves in-spite of their ‘poor’ local economies and limited access to marketable collateral to back recovery of bad loans, why not do the same and add lending to more developed economic ‘pots’ i.e. the urban areas and begin to import earned interest thereby benefiting themselves but also their local economies as wholes with the new capital/economic growth and therefore disposable income.
The State of Finablr for V.S.L.A’s at present
Here are a few key pieces of information regarding the current state of the initiative:
Number of groups formed: 1
- Group named Geno Were with its own constitution and committee.
- Purposefully kept at 1 group to fully explore the dynamics of the initiative
before expansion.
Formation date: March 2022 with only 13 women.
Number of members in the group: 25
- 23 women
- 2 men with one being our EFL liaison officer.
Savings to date: Ugx. 1,696,000
- Despite believing in the potential of the initiative, the ladies believed they could only raise Ugx. 37,500 in savings per month (15 women x 2,500@month),however, the group has as at March 2023 saved a total of Ugx. 1,696,000 that’s close to 4 times what they initially believed they could raise for the initiative.
Volume disbursed to date: Ugx. 2,250,000
Earned interest: Ugx. 279,500 in interest
- While this may seem small, this was across only 6 loans spanning a maximum
of 3 months; therefore much less than full potential.
Capital base: Ugx. 2,280,700.
- In their earlier days, EFL granted them Ugx. 100,000 as a reward for hitting the
Ugx. 100,000 savings mark.
What are the future aspirations of the initiative?
We strive to make the V.S.L.A community of Uganda a major player in the credit finance industry of the country.
There are presently atleast 20,000 V.S.L.A’s in the country based on a report by Care Uganda each with capability to save if not already saved Ugx. 500,000. Together, that is atleast Ugx. 10B which through the Finablr for V.S.L.A initiative can be additional credit capital to the economy. Assuming they are lending at even as little as 3% per month, that would be about Ugx. 300M being repatriated to Uganda’s rural society. The effects on economic growth and development this would have on the livelihoods of the rural community is simply one to be relished.
Next steps:
With the progress thus far with the ground zero ‘Geno Were’ group, these are the next
steps we are gearing toward:
1. Enhance the group’s lending capacity with yet another grant of Ugx. 1,000,000
and more training on identifying deals on the Finablr app. (activity in this
direction has already commenced)
2. Create 4 more groups in the region (Tororo for now) to further develop the
concept enroute to scale.
3. Introduce our ‘Access to solar technologies’ initiative already underway in
partnership with ‘Kombasco Solar Technologies’; an innovative Ugandan solar
technology company dealing in supply and installation of several solar
appliances and features that shall greatly enhance the lives of the very
women/groups we serve. Such appliances/features include solar T.Vs, lighting,
bikes, charging stations among others.
Support in enabling/accelerating any of the above 3 activities would go far in
achieving the aspiration shared above and therefore changing the lives of millions in Uganda before scaling to Africa.
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