Blue Financial Services invests E8m in Swaziland
The new credit services company was officially launched at the Old Barn yesterday and also opened its doors to customers at its office in Mbabane.
The company, which is a Pan-African financial services provider, is targeting to service the unbanked and underserved low to middle income earners in the country. It mainly aims to take Swazis out of debt by assisting them consolidate these as well as educate the public on how to handle debt responsibly.
Van Niekerk said a lot of people were in debt these days and most were in bad debts because they were taking credit for the wrong reasons. "Not all debt is bad, but a lot of people are exposed to debt in Swaziland and we see a big opportunity to consolidate their debt," he said.
"We will be financing that debt and restructuring it for them. We will also be educating people, free of charge, on what a loan is, why they should take a loan and how to take a good loan, among other things."
He said financial education was a big thing for Blue Financial Services, adding that he did not believe other financial institutions educated their customers enough.
The CEO said the company would initially offer services based on personal term loans, such as educational, debt consolidation, home improvement and personal loans, adding that additional services would be introduced in future.
"Blue offers a variety of products, but we will initially be offering personal term loans with other products to follow in the near future. "Should all the terms and conditions be met by the applicant, the loan agreement is guaranteed to be approved within one hour," he said.
The CEO said the company would be working with employers and banks, with whom they would enter into agreements for the servicing of loans.
He said they would either collect through debit orders or direct deductions through employers, however, adding that the company also services individuals. These, he said, would be eligible if they had a bank account.
Van Niekerk said they had chosen to expand the company's operations to Swaziland as part of a simple model of expansion throughout Africa. The company already operates in 12 African countries, with its headquarters in South Africa.
"Our model is very simple. We had an expansion plan to take the big economies first and now we have come to consolidate in the sub-Saharan region, first in Namibia and now Swaziland. Mozambique is on the cards and as it is, we have an investment team looking into things there."
He said their plan was to open four branches in the country, the office in Mbabane being the first while plans were underway for branches to be opened in Manzini, Pigg's Peak and Nhlangano in the next three to four months.
"We want to have an accessible distribution network," said van Niekerk, adding "we're very comfortable with Swaziland, it has a great economy and we've had a very good reception from the Central Bank as well."
The CEO said the company had a lot of international financial backing from reputable agencies.
He said Blue's biggest investors included American International Group (AIG), the sponsors of British club Manchester United; International Finance Corporation (IFC), a division of World Bank; EMP, the largest hedge fund which lends money to Africa and STANLIB. Development partners include the Dutch Development Bank and Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a development financier for developing markets.
