Maun — The Motshelo Financial Scheme, a community-based savings group run largely by women across Botswana, has been lauded as a simple, inclusive and efficient form of organic financial governance.
Addressing the 48th SADC Committee of Insurance, Securities, and Non-Banking Financial Authorities (CISNA) meeting in Maun Tuesday, Vice President Ndaba Gaolathe said Motshelo was a shining example of community innovation in its purest, adding that these women contributed to a shared fund, managed transparently by a trusted treasurer.
"They lend to one another, applying rules that are clear, fair, and respected. They know their clients, understand the risk, and practice due diligence instinctively. They do not merely circulate money, they circulate trust, opportunity, and dignity," said Mr Gaolathe.
He highlighted the transformative power of motshelo, giving examples of how the scheme had improved lives, enabled families to build homes, send children to school, and start small businesses through the initiative he described as not informal finance, but community innovation with the potential to drive economic growth and development.
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Mr Gaolathe also used the opportunity to challenge regulators and policymakers to find ways to nurture, protect, and scale homegrown solutions like motshelo. He said that took collective responsibility to develop inclusive financial products and regulatory frameworks that recognised and amplified such indigenous models.
"The challenge before us is to bridge the world of high finance with the world of community trust. To allow policy to learn from practice and innovation to grow from tradition, that, ultimately, is how we will make financial inclusion not just a goal, but a lived reality for every Motswana, and every citizen across our region," said Mr Gaolathe.
The Vice President also highlighted the importance of the non-banking financial sector in driving economic growth and development in Botswana, saying that the sector had grown in recent years, with total assets of licensed Non-Banking Financial institutions (NBFIs) increasing from P35 billion in 2013 to P185 billion in 2024.
He urged CISNA to enhance member states' capacities to claim a greater market share of the NBFI sector, given its immense potential for growth and job creation.
He further acknowledged the efforts of the Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority (NBFIRA) in promoting a sound, stable and well-regulated domestic non-bank financial institutions sector but also highlighted the threat of climate change to the sector, urging stakeholders to be creative in finding solutions to mitigate its impacts.
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