First published in the Daily Maverick 168 weekly newspaper.

TIP One, the ZAR X-listed company that is building a portfolio of investments in listed and unlisted BBBEE schemes, has partnered with StokFella, an online stokvel platform, to broaden access to its portfolio.

TIP stands for Transformational Investment Portfolio and the “One” implies that it is the first of many investment portfolios, says financial director Lemao Ditodi. Each portfolio will hold investments in a number of schemes, all with different maturities.

Stokvels listed on StokFella can access TIP One via the app or directly via the trading platform ZAR X. StokFella has 2,000 stokvels listed, representing 30,000 people, and is growing monthly, adds Tshepo Moloi, founder and CEO of StokFella.

This is a drop in the ocean compared to current estimates that there are over 820,000 stokvels in the country with a combined membership of 11.4 million people, handling over R44-billion per annum, according to research by the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business.

The intention of both parties is to broaden access to investment opportunities for ordinary black South Africans, and to grow their wealth in the process.

“We would like to provide an opportunity for stokvels to invest their funds in a way that allows them to grow the wealth of their members so that they can invest in themselves – beyond groceries and burials,” says Moloi. “We would like to be part of a process that builds this R50-billion industry and multiplies it by two.”

Similarly, Ditodi sees the current BBBEE investment environment as limiting.

BBBEE schemes own an estimated R400-billion of JSE-listed equity but most are complex and not investor-friendly. “Beyond the inaccessibility of many BEE schemes, and the often very long lock-in periods usually associated with these schemes, how does the average person decide which BEE scheme to participate in, or how to even diversify relatively small investment amounts cost-effectively?”

TIP One is raising capital to add further investments to its portfolio. One of the biggest investments to date is the R5-million invested by Baphalane Ba Mantserre Investment Holdings, the investment holding company of a community of about 10, 000 families in the North West. This enabled TIP One to make one of its first capital allocations into MTN Zakhele Futhi.

Capital raising has been constrained by Covid-19. Aside from restrictions on movement, investor appetite became conservative with investors reluctant to commit, Ditodi says. But this is slowly changing and there are several potential investments in the pipeline, he adds. Together they believe they can create wealth for stokvel members. DM168

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper which is available for free to Pick n Pay Smart Shoppers at these Pick n Pay stores.