igrew up in Soweto in the 1980s, a time when access to financial services products was very limited for black South Africans. This led to the emergence of, amongst other things, stokvels. I remember how my mother and her friends would meet once every month in a festive setting with endless amounts of food where exchanges of cash would often take place as members brought their monthly contributions for the stokvel. For my mom and her friends, this was how they saved. This was their way of ensuring that they had sufficient funds for a rainy day.
Today, the stokvel industry is estimated to be worth about R44bn with an estimated 11.4m South Africans participating in them. Participation has moved beyond the “poor” or those without access to banks. According to…
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Finweek - English (Digital) - 1 Issue, 19-oct-17