By Deon Schlechter
WINDHOEK – Over a third of Namibia’s population does not have access to the kind of financial services they need to improve their lives. Therefore, access to finance is an integral part of the development equation.
“Kongalend is committed to change this situation, addressing the challenges that inhibit progress by providing solutions that enable people to work their way out of poverty and, in so doing, giving practical expression to the principles of financial inclusion – through the power of partnership,” says Hania Janiurek-Ashipala, General Manager: Corporate Communication at Kongalend Financial Services.
Kongalend is to hand over a range of John Deere tractors and rippers that were procured by Kongalend through its special loan offer earlier in the year in Ondangwa and Rundu on November 21 and 22. She says Kongalend has, since its launch in 2010, been putting this into practice. Adding conservation agriculture, loans further reinforces its commitment to the provision of sustainable development solutions. “Our range of microfinance services are delivered through our Windhoek head office, through branch offices in Ondangwa, Oshakati and Rundu, agency centres in Katima Mulilo and Walvis Bay and partnership agreements with local social development-oriented institutions and organised community based savings groups.
Our operations are guided, at all times, by the principles of responsible lending and borrowing to ensure that our customers are provided with financial solutions and not stress,” she notes in an interview with Farmers’ Forum. Kongalend is a development-centred, commercially-driven Namibian microfinance institution whose overall objective is to make a practical contribution to the furtherance of the principles of financial inclusion. It offers a range of affordable power loan products to qualifying applicants wishing to acquire renewable energy technologies, particularly those rural and off-grid communities, for lighting, pumping water and powering a range of household appliances, including solar water heaters. “Kongalend also extends a range of credit products tailored to provide bridging and capital equipment finance to small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) engaged in productive and value-added activities. In addition, Kongalend has developed group micro-enterprise financing solutions tailored to meet the needs of low-income communities, particularly targeting rurally-based women entrepreneurs, with the primary objective of making a positive contribution to poverty alleviation and employment creation, “she notes.
To date, Kongalend has extended close to N$90 million in loans to qualifying clients in all 14 regions of Namibia.
Its partnership with NCBA CLUSA (and its implementing agencies, Creative Entrepreneurs Solutions (CES) and the Namibia National Farmers Union (NNFU)) is designed to enhance practical collaboration in the field of conservation agriculture. Through this relationship, Kongalend is extending access to specially-tailored microfinance to small-scale farmers in the seven dry land crop producing regions of northern Namibia, participating in the three-year USAID-funded Namibia Conservation Agriculture Programme (NCAP), co-ordinated by NCBA CLUSA. “To guarantee the long-term impact and sustainability through adoption of these new farming methods, the relationship with Kongalend, as its financial partner of choice, ensures that programme participants are afforded access to permanent avenues of finance to acquire the agricultural machinery, equipment and inputs required to support their progress from subsistence farming to small-scale commercial crop production. The partnership has been forged to offer long-term solutions to ensure that rural communities’ hope for a brighter future is translated into practical reality by harnessing Kongalend and NCBA CLUSA’s respective expertise to support rural economic development, and bring knowledge and financial power to smallholder Namibian farmers participating in the three-year conservation agriculture programme,” she concludes.