‘Stokvels have gone under the radar for too long’ – Josephine Mbire

Gone are the days that stokvels have gone under the radar as informal auntie clubs. With roughly 12 million South Africans estimated to be members of a local stokvel and R 50 billion in investments being drawn to the ‘afro community concept’, there is now a greater incentive for traditional financial institutions to not only recognise and legitimise stokvels, but also seek out ways that make transactions convenient. Josephine Mbire, the head of Customer Support at Spot Money, tells the Business Hour, that financial institutions – traditional and non-conventional - are now digitising stokvels, making them more accessible to club members.