Ivory Park burial society wins R50 000

Ivory Park-based, Aretshepaneng Burial Society was awarded the prize cheque of R50 000 at the Standard Bank in Tembisa on February 3.

In December 2017, Aretshepaneng Burial Society was selected as the winner of the Savers Draw Competition.

Standard Bank has launched Savers Draw Competitions to encourage savings. Every month, a selected group account is awarded either R5 000 or R50 000 once a year for maintaining a healthy account balance.

The Aretshepaneng scheme has been around since 2016 and has 16 committed members.

“To this end, we invest in all communities, and this means we are client-centric, putting our customers’ needs at the centre of everything we do as a bank. It is a philosophy by which we help to move Africa forward because we are unlocking business and customer value by optimising customers’ saving and investment returns,” says Mike Ramolahlehi, manager of the savings portfolio.

“Stokvels have always been a popular method of saving among South Africans living in townships and rural areas. Furthermore, they often come to the rescue when unforeseen financial challenges arise. As a bank that sees Africa as its home and therefore drives growth throughout the continent, Standard Bank is committed to empowering township economies by cultivating a savings culture within the stokvel market,” added Ramolahlehi.

Ramolahlehi emphasised that South Africa’s economic success depends to a large extent on the nation’s saving and investment practices.

“Although townships and rural areas are often faced with many disadvantages, the people living in these communities strive to improve their livelihoods through savings schemes, irrespective of the socio-economic dynamics and challenges they encounter. Stokvels have been around for many years; in the stokvel’s traditional form, a group of women would get together on a monthly basis to save their money as a collective,” he said.

American business magnate Warren Buffet once said, “Do not save what is left after spending, but rather spend what is left after saving.”

Standard Bank, focuses not only on the bottom line but on people’s lives, and it is celebrating and rewarding various society schemes, or stokvels across the country that maintain a healthy account balance.

Ramolahlehi added that this money is then either distributed fairly at the end of the year or is used to cover financial needs – for instance, to purchase discounted stock and/or groceries at retailers or to conduct burials for insured scheme members.

“Africans have always had a solutions-driven culture. Now that stokvels have been formalised and have been made mainstream with a variety of bank products, more and more people, even in “poverty-stricken communities”, are contributing positively towards the development of township economies, thus invigorating the market and making a sound and meaningful contribution to the greater South African economy,” added Ramolahlehi.

“Over the years, we have learnt that the practice of saving and investing is a means of empowering ourselves as women,” says Ms Lizbeth Motseo from Aretshepaneng Burial Society.

“Our stokvel has served as a reminder that together we can achieve what we cannot always achieve alone.”

Throughout this year, Standard Bank will continue to invest in communities to move Africa forward.