95 Million shares up for grabs in YWBN
|Published
YWBN is inviting citizens to Own The Bank
ADVERTORIAL
Johannesburg - YWBN (Young Women in Business Network) is urging the public to claim a stake and own a piece of history – that is to build a Mutual Bank of their own from the ground up.
Becoming a part of the banking and financial sector is a pathway into being a shareholder in South Africa and having a vested interest not just in yourself, but also in the well-being of your community and the country as a whole. Without being a part of the banking and financial sector, you play a passive role.
As YWBN, we believe the banking sector works best when it works for all citizens. It is for the above reasons that YWBN has created Own the Bank Share Scheme to offer opportunity for the public to own up to 95 000 000 (ninety five million) shares, giving them a shareholding of 19% of the proposed Mutual Bank.
The envisaged YWBN Mutual Bank will play an important role in local communities, offering products and services that spur economic growth and opportunity. It will also become a disruptive force for change in the coming years and will generate a financial legacy for all who invest in it.
One important service will be providing a safe place for consumers, businesses, and government entities to store money in the bank of their own. Money in the bank enables customers to safeguard savings and earn interest. Having a bank account also help customers track spending and manage their finances, and thus is a foundation for prosperity.
While banks in South Africa have played this role for decades, with an estimated 7 million to 10 million South Africans having an account with one of the traditional banks, there is an estimated 11 million South Africans who are completely unbanked and underserved – a figure that disproportionately includes low-income earners, informal traders and women. For those individuals, access to a simple transaction account can be a first step toward long-term financial security.
The 11 million unbanked and underbanked consumers have largely been dismissed by traditional banks, except where serving these customers helped financial institutions fulfil statutory and regulatory obligations.
Our view as YWBN is that everyone should have access to the safety, convenience and benefits that come with a bank account. This we plan to achieve by offering low-cost, basic accounts that meet people’s needs at their level of income. By offering safe and affordable bank accounts, we aim to demonstrate our commitment to financial inclusion while also adding new customers in the process.
Our products will include accounts with features that many people are looking for, including low or no fees, flexibility to customize and automate investing according to your unique goals and ethos, opportunity to earn when you spend, borrow when you need, and other basic attributes to build strong credit profile—giving people more confidence to begin their banking relationship with YWBN with the right tools to manage and push their money further.
This is important, especially for a country like ours which has one of the highest unemployment rate in the world, where studies show that the future of employment and economic growth is dependent on Small Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs), particularly those based in township and rural dwellings where 90% of new jobs can be created. However, thousands of innovative businesses fail to emerge with many SMMEs forced to close shop due to lack of access to financing to keep their businesses afloat.
The success of our Mutual Bank will not only be in terms of de-racialising the financial sector and turning it into one that reflects the country’s demographics and work for ALL South Africans, particularly black women, but also catalysing the township economy, boost SMME development to create tangible economic assets and trade activities to address distorted patterns of ownership, generate sustainable incomes and growth along inclusive equitable lines.
Sustainable economic opportunity requires a long-term banking relationship, and YWBN aims to achieve exactly that, be the bank for the largely excluded customers by mainstream banking. Hence the Own the Bank Share Scheme, which provides opportunity for the public, particularly Historically Disadvantaged Individuals and Groupings (HDIGs) to claim a stake and own a piece of history – that is build a Mutual Bank of their own from the ground up.
To buy a stake in the Own the Bank Share Scheme, first participants must join Young Women in Business Network and pay a once-off non-refundable membership fee of R100. Then they can buy a minimum of 100 (one hundred) shares at R1000 (one thousand rand for a nominal value of R10.00 (ten rand) per share. Participants shall be entitled to acquire a maximum 200 000 (two hundred thousand) shares or R2 000 000 (two million rand) worth of shares.
YWBN’s ability to progress to a fully-fledged Mutual Bank is dependent on its ability to raise funds, build and test IT banking system, obtain regulatory approval, and launch its first product.
We urge everyone to join the YWBN Own the bank Share Scheme so we can build a legacy together and create generational wealth.
To participate, visit www.ownthebank.co.za