Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Being a small company with limited budgets for advertising, we think it’s very important to keep all interested investors and friends of MYC4 up to date with what’s going on behind the curtain. To give our investors a versatile picture of MYC4, and at the same time don’t overload with unnecessary information, we give the followers different opportunities to follow where they think it’s interesting. Below you will find our social media channels, and what you get.

-

facebook-logo-300x300Facebook

Facebook is currently our biggest communication platform with 1400+ likes. Our Facebook profile is managed from our Copenhagen office and is used to inform users and fans of MYC4 about general information about Africa with a financial twist, announcements, interesting blog post, milestones and current loans on MYC4.

-

twitter-300x300Twitter

To differentiate our tweets from our Facebook updates, we have chosen to set up a Twitter account which is managed from our Nairobi office in Kenya. These tweets are mainly focused on our provider and borrower updates and the everyday life at the office.

If you are already on Twitter you might also find these two profiles worth a follow; the first is our CEO, Mads Kjaer. Here you will get updates from his business trips and participation in different events, latest The World Economic Forum in Cape Town.

The second is our Operations Manager, Githa Kurdahl. Here you will get insights in the daily management and a good opportunity to dig deeper into MYC4 and learn about our key challenges and opportunities.

-

Insta51-300x300Instagram

The best pictures of our borrowers who currently are or have been active on MYC4 are handpicked by the staff and shared on Instagram. You can use the first hash tag (#) on each picture to track the loan on MYC4; all you have to do is copy the link http://www.myc4.com/Invest/Loans/View/ and add the first hash tag with five digits to the link (essentially the loan id).

-

linkedin1-512-300x300Linkedin

We are slowly building up our Linkedin profile with the approach that it can be used to generate new impact investors and raise more capital to be invested in African entrepreneurs. It’s also a good way to show your professional network that you support MYC4 on our way to build a sustainable Africa.

-

Our key challenge with our social media channels is in general to build a bigger fan base as well as satisfy current users with relevant information about MYC4 and Africa.

We are always open for what you as an investor think is relevant information to you and where you would like some more – so please share/like/comment/follow/tweet/retweet to contact us.

Meet Fahamu Kadenge Swaleh, a 35 year old mother of three and an astute businesswoman. We came across Fahamu as we were doing spot-checks on our partner, Yehu Microfinance Trust at the coast in Mombasa. We are accompanied by two members of Yehu’s operation team to guide us to the clients’ business locations. This particular client, Fahamu, is based in Likoni area which is the gate to the South coast of Kenya. It normally requires the services of a ferry for people to commute to and from Mombasa Island and the South coast.

Mombasa neighborhood

It’s around 3 o’clock in the afternoon and the sweltering heat and high humidity does not spare us. Nevertheless we are determined to meet this client. She is currently one of the borrowers with the biggest loans on the Yehu-MYC4 portfolio. We wanted to hear her story.

After an almost one hour gruelling wait at the Likoni channel crossing, we finally manage to get to Fahamu’s home which is about a ten minutes drive from the shoreline. We find her waiting for us outside her house with a big smile on her face. She greets us and welcomes us inside her home but we prefer to stay outside near a shade which is more conducive. At first glance, she doesn’t cut the picture of a somehow well off business lady, maybe it was the way she was dressed in kangas that made me think so which is a common and favorite cultural trend among women of Swahili origin at the Kenyan coast. As me and my colleague Eric engage her, she seems a little bit intrigued by our Swahili from Nairobi which is quite different from the Swahili normally spoken at the coast.

A ferry at the Likoni crossing

A ferry at the Likoni crossing

Fahamu started off her own transportation business in the year 2010, when she finally managed to get a lorry of her own which is a UD Nissan Diesel Tipper. Prior to purchasing her vehicle, she used to operate as an agent whereby she would get transportation business from firms around the area and then hire vehicles and carts to transport the merchandise at hand. Eventually she accumulated enough savings and with the help of some borrowed funds she got her own. She talks of her business with passion and is ever smiling as we interact; it’s hard to believe how far she has come. Fahamu’s first loan was worth KES 20,000 (180 Euros) which she borrowed at Yehu Microfinance Trust. She has grown over the years with the organisation and is now on her fifth loan amounting to KES 250,000 (2248 Euros) which is more than ten times of her first loan.

A Nissan Diesel Lorry Tipper

A Nissan Diesel Lorry Tipper

Apart from the transportation business, Fahamu also has other businesses which include re-sale of fuel in smaller quantities to motorcycle operators in the area who can’t afford to buy costly fuel in large quantities. In addition, she also deals in tobacco whereby she buys the leaves from farmers in her area and then sells them to the manufacturing firms. It emerges that this ever smiling lady has a strong work ethic behind her smile. She tells were it not for her months old baby that she is taking care of, we probably would have difficulty tracing her at that time of the day due to her numerous hustles.

Fahamu is married and has three children, the youngest one who is barely a few months old. Her husband works in the transport business too. Currently she has four employees and plans to add an additional two to assist in the operations of the growing business. Fahamu is happy with the loan which she used to further grow her transportation business. So far she has not had any difficulties repaying the loan despite its size as she is able to make a decent income. This is what she had to say on why she thinks some micro finance borrowers appear to be struggling when doing their repayments.

“In micro finance you must have objectives of borrowing; that is when you succeed.”

There you have it; purpose comes first before you go to borrow. We thank Fahamu for her time and it’s finally time for us to go and see another client before the sun goes down.  She waves us goodbye and as usual with a smile on her face.

Mads Kjaer, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, MYC4, Denmark; Social Entrepreneur at the World Economic Forum on Africa 2013. Copyright by World Economic Forum / Benedikt von Loebell

Mads Kjaer, CEO and Co-Founder, MYC4, Denmark; Social Entrepreneur at the World Economic Forum on Africa 2013. Copyright by World Economic Forum / Benedikt von Loebell

The 23rd World Economic Forum on Africa was held in Cape Town, South Africa, last week. More than 1,000 regional and global leaders from government, business, civil society, and academia came together for three days to discuss this year’s theme Delivering on Africa’s Promise.

With an expected annual growth of 5% in 2012-2013, sub-Saharan Africa continues its transformative journey from a developing continent to a hub of global growth. According to the World Bank, almost half of Africa’s countries have attained middle-income status. At the same time, the continent’s positive outlook is threatened by fluctuating commodity prices, rising inequality and youth unemployment.

To build on its achievements, Africa’s leaders need to strengthen the continent’s competitiveness, foster inclusive growth and build resilience in a volatile global environment. Accelerating economic diversification, boosting strategic infrastructure and unlocking talent are critical success factors in this new leadership context.

World Economic Forum on Africa 2013

As one of the Schwab Foundation’s Social Entrepreneurs of the Year 2013, MYC4 CEO Mads Kjær was invited to participate in the Forum. More specifically, he represented MYC4 in the session “New Solutions: Scaling Social Innovation” where he was joined by Erna Sittig (Uthango Social Investments), Sameer Hajee (Nuru Energy Group), Iqbal Survé (Sekunjalo Investments) and Juliana Rotich (Ushahidi). The session was moderated by Bruce McNamer from TechnoServe.

Scaling Social Innovation

Copyright by World Economic Forum (click to enlarge)

The objective of the session was to explore how social innovation in Africa can be scaled up for greater impact? The dimensions to be discussed were:

  • Leveraging experimentation of social enterprises
  • Fostering innovative partnerships and financing models
  • Targeting policies and incentives for growth

In the synopsis from the session, these key points are highlighted:

  • Like any business, from day one, social enterprises should think about the process by which they will scale
  • Partnerships between social enterprises and public sector actors should be built on common interests
  • A critical challenge when scaling social enterprises is transmitting the culture, values and ideals that are at the core of the business

Like many other Forum participants, Mads made sure to share his experiences and impressions on Twitter, using #WEF and #WEFAFRICA to join the online conversations. See some of his tweets below – and go to Twitter to read the rest, including some from his visit to the Nairobi office earlier this week.

Meet Micheal Wamala, a soft spoken man from Uganda, who feels he is living his dream. Being from a humble background, he hardly sat on a chair while growing up – and the first chair he sat on was made by himself. When Mr Wamala was growing up he had a passion of being a carpenter; he had always felt bad for the fact that they never had any chairs in his homestead. Once he cleared high school, he decided to make a chair and that was the beginning of his life long career of carpentry.

Wamala working at his workshop

Wamala working at his workshop

Mr Wamala is a client of Gatsby Microfinance Limited. He has successfully completed repaying 3 loans and is in the process of repaying the fourth loan through MYC4. We had a talk with him and could clearly hear is passion for carpentry. When we asked him if he could think of starting another business, he said “if I would be given another life I would still be a carpenter”.

How did you hear about MYC4?

I was a member of Uganda Small Scale Organization back in 2010 where we were introduced to Gatsby by our leaders. Gatsby told us about MYC4 and even took us to classes to understand better how MYC4 worked.

What did you use the loan for? And has the loan helped you grow your business?

The first loan I added to the savings I had and opened my first workshop, hence I stopped being employed and started operating my own business. With the second loan I added my capital and hired two young men to help me in running the business. So far my business has really grown and I have managed to open another workshop and hired four more people.

Have the loans influenced the society around you?

Yes, they have. My friends have been motivated by the good work I do, and they have been asking me how I have managed to make my business grow and still have products of good quality. The loans have also influenced the life of my family. I’m able to support my wife and my three children who are in good private schools and I pay their school fees without any problem.

Have you been able to hire new employees after you received the loans?

Yes, I have been able to hire six young men who help me in running the business. Before I got the loans I was the only one doing everything at the workshop, and I plan hiring more to run the new workshop after repaying this fourth loan.

How do you find our interest rates compared to other MFIs in Uganda?

Having started working with MYC4 through Gatsby for the last four years I have never been interested in knowing how other MFIs charge their loans. So far MYC4′s interest rates work for me, I cannot complain.

Did you find any difficulties in repaying your loans?

In repaying the first two loans I didn’t experience any difficulty in repaying. The third loan gave me some problems, because one of my workshops burnt down hence coming up with the funds to repay the loan was a struggle. I managed to clear it and request for a fourth loan.

What are your future business plans?

My future plan is to build my own building to be able to operate my business in my own building and cut the cost of rent every month to instead put that money into the business.

Would you recommend MYC4 to others?

634490047143583496

Wamala outside his workshop

Yes, and in fact I have recommended my two friends and they are both taking their third loan with MYC4.

Do you have additional comments?

I would encourage people to do what they love in their lives because it is always a joy to wake up to do your passion in life. For those who don’t have funds to start a business I would advise them to join a microfinance institution and request for loans.

What is commitment and how do we ensure that people, organizations, politicians live up to the promises they make? We have all witnessed stern-looking leaders, taking a stance and looking into the lens of the camera, claiming that THEY will make a difference in the lives of many in the fight against poverty/hunger/inequality etc. Later, promises are forgotten and initially passionate-sounding words die out, left to disappear into the aftermath of elections or fade into a pool of insincere camaraderie.

Although there are definitely some who do follow through on such promises, representing the marginalized has often been a means to a wholly different end, with symbolic rhetoric used as an instrument for self-promotion.

Even in aspects of mainstream development policy, trendy catchphrase words, such as gender, are often thrown into documents as a carefree afterthought, but for some reason rarely appear in the analysis and collected empirical data, and thereby lack the cause-effect duality that is needed to dig deeper and understand the dimensions of poverty and inequality, and differentiated experiences thereof.

What are words and proclaimed commitment without those who will follow through and those who can hold them accountable?

WorldWeWant

The recent UN post-2015 conference on inequality lanced the UN’s most ambitious and comprehensive consultation process (www.worldwewant2015.org), where everyone is invited to discuss what the world should look like after 2015.

Since Denmark chose to host the conference on the global inequality theme, Danish politicians are thereby committed to follow up and continue the discussion, even (and especially) after the conference has completed.

Don’t just make a conference and then be quiet*

By continuing to have an interest in the world around us, let us prompt our governments to follow up on obligations and remind our representatives to carry out their big words and promises.

Last week we could share the news that Micro Africa Ltd has decided to exit as a MYC4 provider. The decision comes as a result of Micro Africa being acquired 100% by Letshego Holdings who is able to finance Micro Africa’s lending activities going forward.

We have received a letter to the MYC4 investors from Tim Carson, Micro Africa’s CEO. He writes:

To all MyC4 Investors

It is with great regret that I write to advise that Micro Africa will be ending its long association with MyC4. Micro Africa has been acquired by Letshego Holdings of Botswana, a financial services company listed on the Botswana Stock Exchange and active in 12 African countries. Letshego has advised that it will take care of all of Micro Africa’s future funding requirements. As a consequence, Micro Africa will not post any new loans on Myc4.

Letter to investors

Click to enlarge

Over the past 5 years, the MyC4 investment community has been a vital cog in enabling Micro Africa to transform the lives of its entrepreneurial clients. Since 2008, MyC4 investors have provided EUR2.8million of crucial funding to almost 2500 clients of Micro Africa in Kenya, Uganda & Rwanda.

The MyC4 funding has been extremely beneficial to our clients enabling them to expand and develop their business activities.

The MyC4 funding has also been a key part of the development of Micro Africa. In 2008, when we first began our association with MyC4, Micro Africa had a portfolio of $4million and approximately 4200 clients. Today Micro Africa has a loan portfolio in excess of $21million and over 45,000 clients.

I would like to thank you all for your support of Micro Africa and our clients. I urge you to continue your support through MyC4 of the thousands of small businesses in Africa that would find it difficult to fund their activities without the support of MyC4.

Many thanks again

Tim Carson

CEO -Micro Africa Ltd

Micro Africa is currently the largest provider on the MYC4 platform with 1469 active loans and an outstanding portfolio of approximately €630,000. The portfolio is held in three countries, namely Kenya (60 %), Uganda (25 %), and Rwanda (15 %). As a result of the exit, no new loans will be uploaded to the MYC4 platform for funding, and the active loans will be repaying in accordance with their respective repayment schedules. Micro Africa has reaffirmed its 100 % guarantee to cover on behalf of its clients in case of loan defaults.

MAL - Office 2_JPGTim’s letter to MYC4 investors expresses in many ways the direction that MYC4 has actively been taking for the last 12-18 months; to be an instrumental financing partner for Tier 2 and Tier 3 microfinance institutions (MFIs) in East Africa that are looking to grow and build institutional capacity.

Our CEO, Mads Kjaer says: ‘We would like to thank Micro Africa and its management for a constructive and professional partnership over the years and we are sure that we will meet again. On one side it is sad to see a 5-year partnership come to an end, yet it is wonderful to part on such good terms and great to know that MYC4 has been part of Micro Africa’s journey from being a small MFI to now being the largest credit only MFI in Kenya’.

Another month has passed, another update is ready for you: here is the April Provider Update.

-

MALMicro Africa Ltd

This month we have some big news on Micro Africa. As we reported in the last update, Micro Africa Ltd has been acquired 100 % by Letshego Holdings Ltd, a financial services company from Botswana. In a board meeting last week, it was decided that Letshego will handle all of Micro Africa’s funding needs going forward. Consequently Micro Africa Ltd will exit as a provider on MYC4, meaning that no new loans will be uploaded for bidding. All outstanding loans will be repaying as planned.

For MYC4 it is naturally sad to say goodbye to one of the oldest and largest providers on the platform; at the same time, it is a great satisfaction to have witnessed and supported Micro Africa’s growth over the years, from being a small MFI with 4,200 borrowers to its current position as the largest credit only MFI in Kenya with more than 45,000 clients.

We will be back next week with more information on the exit, including a letter from Micro Africa.

-

FMCLFanikiwa Microfinance Company Ltd

Fanikiwa Microfinance Company Ltd from Tanzania has now been a provider on the MYC4 platform for 2 months. The partnership with Fanikiwa has been impeccable so far, and more than €100,000 has already been disbursed to 64 individuals and groups. On the repayment side, investors have received around €3,000 without delays. The maximum outstanding loan balance (OLB) for the pilot has almost been reached, however, which is why Fanikiwa has had to slow down on the number of open loans. The volume is expected to increase following the pilot evaluation which is due in 1-2 months’ time.

-

SISDOSISDO

In April, we finally saw the return of SISDO to the platform with around 20 new loans opened for bidding. SISDO had been paused from uploading loans most of this year; first due to its pending pilot evaluation, and subsequently due to some operational challenges that led to performance issues. Now that SISDO is back, we expect to see a good deal of new loans in the coming months seeing as SISDO has the size and capacity to manage a larger loan portfolio on MYC4 than its current €140,000. It is consequently expected that SISDO will more or less double its MYC4 portfolio this quarter.

-

PRCPremier Resource Consulting

The two batches of repayments, a total of €5,250, that had been pending transfer since February, were returned to investors in the month of April. This meant that three PRC loans became fully repaid, namely Bokass Susu Enterprise, Koranch Ventures, and ChrisBud Enterprise. A number of new repayments, totalling approximately €7,500, were registered on the MYC4 platform and they are now in the process of being transferred and returned to investors as well. There is not a lot to report on the coverage of the defaulted loans, unfortunately, except that it is expected of PRC that the first recoveries should be reflected on the MYC4 platform soon.

-

GACGrowth Africa Ltd

The partnership with Growth Africa was terminated in 2011, and Micro Africa Ltd has since then been responsible for the Growth Africa portfolio. The final 9 active loans were defaulted in the last week of April which means that Growth Africa no longer has an outstanding balance on MYC4. These loans had been more than 90 % repaid by the borrowers, but it was necessary to default them to avoid further interest accumulation. Micro Africa is committed to continue handling the Growth Africa portfolio, and will be meeting with MYC4 Staff in May to review the progress of the collection efforts on the defaulted portfolio.

-

Those were all the news we had to share this month. If you want particular providers to be included in the monthly updates, let me know. You are also very welcome to follow me on twitter for more regular operational information, news, and interaction: twitter.com/githakurdahl

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 100 other followers

%d bloggers like this: