Letshego lobbies for regulatory reforms
Isaac Pinielo | Thursday May 19, 2016 10:52
With this status, the microlender becomes AFI’s first African private sector partner, positioning it to build on an established and growing relationship around public-private dialogue on financial inclusion policy and implementation issues for sub-Saharan Africa.
Managing director, Chris Low stated in the company’s latest annual report that they seek to strengthen their operations through investment in people and technology as well as through strategic partnerships.
Letshego services include lending to the formal and entrepreneurial sector, deposit taking, and payment facilities.
He also stated that the AFI partnership status will allow Letshego to continue strengthening relationships that promote financial inclusion policies and address implementation issues across sub-Saharan Africa.
“Partnerships such as these, which bring together similar agendas, while playing to our respective strengths and creating momentum for growth and development in Africa, are central to our business ethic,” he said.
AFI is a global network of financial policymakers from developing and emerging countries working together to increase access to financial services, bringing together policymakers and regulators from over 100 emerging markets and developing countries.
“We have continued to engage with regulators and to be active in industry forums with the goal of facilitating greater public-private dialogue and socially responsible lending practices,” he said.
Low said Letshego’s experience in successfully establishing and growing businesses in diverse and challenging economic climates will be shared and advocated for through AFI to enhance and inform policy decisions at a country level.
In particular, he added, areas of commercially sustainable microfinance, digital financial services and data, measurements as well as trend identification offer significant opportunities for Letshego to share intellectual capital.
He stated that the company has also continued to firm up on its financial inclusion strategy.
“This year we began a process of customer engagement that aims to provide quantitative data on our achievement of financial inclusion and will allow us to report more holistically on our social performance,” he said.
He added that the move will also enhance reporting of the proportion of funds that the company disburses towards productive purposes, such as education, healthcare and business expansion.
Low also noted that while they create a positive social impact, they recognise that the ability to demonstrate this empirically will assist in establishing Letshego as a market leader that recognises that financial stability and sustainable growth result from more than simply a sound portfolio.
“We have acquired extensive knowledge about our customers’ needs and uniquely combine a financially sustainable focus with a keen emphasis on improving life for those at the base of the economic pyramid that typically are underserved by traditional banks and lenders,” said Low.
He said this is where real contributions can be made to transformation, development, and economic growth on the continent.