Turning investors into millionaires
Pauline Dikuelo | Friday March 18, 2016 14:20
While most people see Metshelo as short-term investment, with others considering it as middle-term investment, for those that have taken it as a long-term investment route and they have become millionaires.
This system of working in groups subscribes well to the Setswana adages of ‘kgetsi ya tsie e kgonwa ke go tshwaraganelwa’, ‘setshwarwa ke ntsa pedi gase thata’ or ‘moroto wa esi gao ele’.
The most famous Motshelo is the one where people contribute monthly, lend people the money with a certain interest percentage and share the returns at the end of the year.
Some people prefer to contribute monthly and share the money at the end of the year while only a few prefer to contribute monthly and consider investing that money rather than share returns amongst themselves.
The latter, according to what was shared at the tea party has turned people into millionaires.
The WIBA Motshelo Tea Party held over the weekend proved to be an eye-opener for most attendants who said they never imagined the savings product could achieve so much.
According to Dorcus Kgosietsile, who is one of the owners of the Club 10 Motshelo group, when they started their Motshelo in 1995 they were a group of 10 women who would contribute P1,000 a month to a savings account.
Six months later they used their P60,000 to invest in Bank of Botswana Certificates.
“We were those women who were committed and had a purpose. We had a vision to play a role in the economy of the country. Two years later we registered a company called ‘Club 10 Pty Ltd’.”She said that they then created a book profiling each member, which they used to give to potential investors. What followed was history as today the group has achieved a lot and has properties around the city including the 18,900 square metre plot where Masa Square Hotel (former Lansmore Hotel) is located. The group has also managed to purchase a plot in Kgale Mews through CEDA, which Kgosietsile said the plot has paid off the debt through rentals and now they are enjoying the dividends.
“It has always been a man’s world, but when they hear your plea they will respond,” said Kgosietsile, as she urged women to keep knocking on doors perceived for men.
Club 10 Motshelo Group also has some shares in a South African Company Coronation Fund Managers, an independent investment business focused solely on fund management. The fund currently manages R623 billion in current assets as at end of December 2015.
To break the stereotype that Motshelo is for women, another Motshelo group, which has made strides is Tsela Alliance, a group made up of eight men and two women. When narrating her story of how they started from humble beginnings, one of the group members Sally Pillar said that all they wanted was to empower themselves economically.
“We had plans to do a long term investment with our contributions, but we were not clear what we had to do. I can confirm that we had the same vision and mission, which helped us to be where we are today. I remember at one point, we wanted to open a bank, which didn’t materialise because our partners had issues on their country,” she added.
She encouraged women to stop seeing each other as competition, but rather complement one another adding that working in a group can help them reach their destinations unlike when they work alone.
Further she encouraged them to have a driver in each group who spearheads everything without being paid.
WIBA founder, Orefitlhetse Masire further encouraged most of the women who graced the Motshelo Tea Party to embrace the Motshelo concept and start investing with their money assuring them that they would help women to find markets and penetrate other countries.
Last year, WIBA signed a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) with North West business forum in South Africa in which it will accord local women to go and benchmark from the South Africans and even create partnerships.
“We as women should start considering investing in men dominated industries like construction.
If men can do it, why can’t we? I challenge each and every one of you to practice the culture of investing. We are here as WIBA to help you,” said Masire.
She told them to visit WIBA offices to ist in the industry and told them they are there to provide mentorship.
From being an informal savings method with its roots stretching back decades, Metshelo have now been formalised with financial institutions such as Barclays Bank of Botswana and BancABC having introduced accounts specially designed for this particular kind of saving method.
To open a Barclays Motshelo Account, there is need to have at least three people in a group. Two signatories go to their local branch and take along the opening balance of P500.
It is estimated that about P800 million is currently saved under various Metshelo in Botswana.
A Country Diagnostic Report on financial services called Making Access Possible (MAP) approximates that about 18 percent of Botswana’s 1.3 million adult populations participate in Metshelo with an average savings of P3,500 per person per annum.
The MAP study derived its figures from the 2015 Finscope survey, which was conducted between October and December last year sampling 1,503 respondents from Botswana’s total population of 1.3m adults.