There's more competition in the country's banking sector, and this one is all-women-owned.
The latest entrant to South Africa’s banking sector comes in the form of the Young Women in Business Network (YWBN) Cooperative Financial Institution, which is looking to become the country’s first bank to be owned by women.
Nthabeleng Likotsi, the company’s MD, says the bank will target informal traders and black business owners who have been shunned by traditional lenders. In an interview with Bloomberg, Likotsi said:
“Banks don’t understand black entrepreneurs. Power is sitting in the informal sector, which has not been fully activated, and banks are not giving it their full attention. The power is sitting in the stokvels, the power is sitting in the hawkers, the power is sitting in the taxi drivers. We believe in that informal sector.”
According to Likotsi, YWBN will raise funding from two investors to boost its capital levels. The bank will initially be run from Johannesburg using digital channels, before opening branches in other locations in its third year of operation.
