United African Stokvel (UASV), a South African based tech startup, has developed a unique community-oriented stokvel- which will focus on digitizing the informal method of saving money to help ease the way its users handle their finances.
Stokvel is a South African informal savings scheme that got established in March 2019.
It absorbs members regularly, who then contribute an agreed amount of money, to receive a lump sum payment afterward, and on a specified due date, and with the use of a savings cycle, it adds an extra reward to its members’ due pay as an incentive to their initial savings amount.
The collated savings of these members are always placed in a collective trust account managed by the Chairman of United African Stokvel, Darren Langbein.
How does UASV Work?
UASV runs a confidential savings program. Its members’ personal information such as their individual amount, investment period, spending habits and rewards are strictly kept private.
Once UASV pools its members’ savings contributions, a saving cycle now begins. The tech startup then gets to invests the fund for an agreed-upon time frame, in two major sectors: property and telecommunications, and the investment’s interests churn in at a monthly rate of 1.67%.
As soon as the cycle is complete members who have invested for an agreed period known as a lock-in term, receive their initial savings amount together with interest.
They are then offered a choice to either contribute again and begin a new cycle or collect their entire savings.
Why UASV?
As a unique platform self-funded by Chairman Darren Langbein, USAV offers locals an opportunity to not only earn a reward for saving up but to also be further educated on how to scale up their financial know-how.
To achieve this, UASV members are given tips on how to save money through their informational money tips blogs.
This community-based stokvel boasts of over 2,000 trusted, reliable and active members, and it is only when a saving cycle is completed that members access their funds, however, members are given control over their savings if they decide to cancel their plan.
Recently, on Facebook, the digital stokvel announced their successful operations owing to an increase in the number of participants, thus saying in a quote:
“We have reached a huge milestone! With so many people joining our digital stokvel, and we are proud to announce that our first biggest milestone has been reached, to date, we have successfully paid out R 700, 000 in rewards to customers saving with us.”
Featured Image: findevgateway
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