Globaleye’s MD Scott Balsdon and Corporate Communications manager Katy Glover travelled to Malawi to see first-hand the sustainable projects funded by Alquity Investment Management and The One Foundation. Alquity, in partnership with UK registered charity The One Foundation, helps people in developing countries who struggle to earn a living and who do not have access to credit and savings services from large banks and financial institutions. Alquity donates a minimum of 25% of their net fund management fees from the Alquity Africa Fund to The One Foundation, which directly supports microfinance programmes to create jobs and lift people out of poverty. They also had the opportunity to visit schools supported by The One Foundation and help with their school feeding program. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR1ZlzWrYeE

1. MALAWI 2012
Alquity Insight Trip
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2. Did you know...
• that there are over 61 million children living without education in the world?
• the average salary for a working male in the UK would build a school block in
Malawi?
• that many children in the developing world have to walk many miles in order
to attend school, sapping their precious energy, with no food at the end to
sustain their brains?
• that it costs $650 per annum to educate a child in developing Africa?
• that 40 million children in Africa do not have access to any kind of education?
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3. Introduction
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4. Introduction
Globaleye’s Managing Director Scott Balsdon and Corporate Communications
Manager Katy Glover, spent four days in Malawi in September 2012 to see firsthand the sustainable projects funded by Alquity Investment Management and
The One Foundation.
Alquity Investment Management, in partnership with UK registered charity The
One Foundation, helps people in developing countries who struggle to earn a
living and who do not have access to credit and savings services from large banks
and financial institutions.
Alquity donates a minimum of 25% of their net fund management fees from the
Alquity Africa Fund to The One Foundation, which directly supports microfinance
programmes to create jobs and lift people out of poverty.
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5. Alquity - A new type of investment management business
Alquity Investment Management Limited (Alquity) is an exciting, vibrant and fast growing
investment management company with a difference. Alquity represents the coming
together of altruism and equity to form a new approach to investment management
that aims to generate attractive returns for investors through a rigorous, sustainable
investment process, whilst positively transforming the lives of people in the areas in
which we invest.
Alquity believes that it is time for a shift in thinking that will revolutionise investment
in emerging markets. In a financial market shaken by the pursuit of short-term gain,
it is time for an investment philosophy that completely redefines what we understand
by long-term gain. That grows roots, instead of pulling them up. Where profit isn’t
the only return. Where the bottom line is also a lifeline. All this without compromising
theinvestment itself. That reinforces it, in fact. An investment that strengthens the
economy in which it operates long term, and strengthens practices within it, thus is
strengthening itself. This is that shift in thinking. This is our way of seeing the world:
Commercial sense + Common sense + Conscience = Fair prosperity = Alquity
Attractive returns from emerging markets = the Alquity Africa Fund
Africa is one of the most exciting investment stories on the planet at the moment. With
significant resources (20% of the world’s land mass, 60% of diamonds, 12% of proven
oil reserves, 9% of natural gas and 40% of the world’s gold), a young and growing
population, and low debt and high GDP growth, the continent is being talked about by
everybody.
Financier George Soros recently described Africa as “one of the few bright spots on the
gloomy economic horizon”; Bob Geldof has said that “Africa is a continent of extraordinary
business and investment opportunities”.
Investing in the Africa investment story through Alquity offers investors a number of
advantages:
• Africa specialists. Our fund managers are highly experienced. Led by David Mcilroy
who has over 17 years’ experience of managing emerging market equities, they have
been specifically selected to manage our Africa Fund.
• Diversified one-stop access to the exciting growth potential of the African continent we invest in the companies we think will offer the best long-term growth opportunities
- regardless of country or sector so we are not constrained by an index.
• A straight-forward approach. The fund is simple to understand as it does not use
gearing nor derivatives and hence avoids unnecessary risks.
• Sustainable investment. The fund takes a sustainable approach to investing, ensuring
that we are not investing in unethical businesses.
• Transforming lives - we donate a minimum of 25% of our net management fee
revenue to help people in Africa set up businesses to support their families over the
long term.
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6. The One Foundation is Alquity’s charity partner and all donations from their net
management fee to OIBM are run through them. The One is a UK registered charity
working with communities in Africa to address the most pressing humanitarian needs,
such as clean drinking water, nutrition and sanitation.
The One Foundation funds projects in those countries where the need is greatest, working
to positively and permanently change lives in the following ways:
Water
One provide a range of sustainable water projects, using technologies that are appropriate
to the communities they serve and that can be easily maintained. Now, instead of walking
for hours to collect water, children can go to school and entire communities benefit from
access to fresh drinking water.
Hygiene & Sanitation
Focusing on larger schools, One funds brick-built ventilated pit latrines for girls and boys
with hand-washing facilities, replacing unhygienic non-reinforced sandy pits with grass
screen surrounds. This is supported with an education programme for the children and
local communities that covers hand-washing and basic hygiene, which will reduce the
spread of disease.
Nutrition
One works with the poorest farming families in rural African communities, helping them
grow enough food to feed themselves, plus a little bit extra to sell. That way they can
earn enough to see them through times when the crops fail. To this end, they fund
vegetable garden projects - providing family communities with start-up kits, equipment
and training to enable them to be self-sufficient and grow more nutritional food.
Sustainable Livelihoods
Working with poor communities, One funds chicken-farming projects and a range of
microfinance initiatives. The provision of capital, materials and training as part of our
sustainable livelihoods projects assists families in developing strategies to grow income
and assets, helping to strengthen their resilience to distress caused by market fluctuations
and seasonal trends.
Community Health
Targeting those communities that are grossly underserved by public health initiatives, One
funds bicycle ambulances and community medical kits in remote African communities.
HIV/AIDS
To help address the issues associated with the HIV and AIDS pandemic, One funds
Voluntary Counselling & Testing outreach clinics. The programmes take teams of nurses
and counsellors to visit rural communities to help educate and raise awareness of HIV
and HIV-related issues as well as test for HIV.
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7. Opportunity
International
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8. Opportunity International Bank of Malawi
Opportunity International Bank of Malawi (OIBM) offer vital microfinance services
to some of the poorest communities in Malawi, concentrating on those who are
excused from the financial system. This includes female headed households,
those affected by HIV/AIDS and those with no collateral. Interestingly 80% of the
loans are given to women who have proved they invest the money more wisely
than their spouses.
In Malawi people face innumerable barriers to growth, in particular access to credit.
Few have access to safe saving facilities and insurance to build assets, increase
income and reduce vulnerability caused by food shortages. OIBM currently has
more than 250,000 clients - the majority of whom live on less than US$2 per day.
OIBM offers Microcredit programs to Trust Groups and individuals. These are tiny
loans (as small as £35) which enable people to grow their businesses and break
the cycle of dependency. Each microloan comes with a Microsavings Account to
provide people with secure places to keep their money, protecting them against
day to day crises and evens out seasonal income fluctuation. OIBM also provides
insurance services to compliment this.
Many of OIBM’s Clients live in rural locations where they have no access to
transport and in turn banking facilities, so OIBM runs multiple mobile banking
units throughout the country which visit rural clients so they can deposit and
draw out money.
In addition OIBM promotes HIV/AIDS awareness and provides leadership training
in order to assist clients in maximizing their loans and making a success of their
business ventures.
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9. OIBM Client Profiles
Doriska Jombo
Doriska is part of the Ndife
Amodzi Trust Group and is now
on her 10th loan cycle with
Opportunity International Bank
of Malawi.
Doriska owns a small market
stall selling drinks and building
materials such as nails.
Before she enrolled with
OIBM Doriska used to borrow
money from loan sharks with
up to 100% monthly interest
repayment rates.
Doriska’s first loan was 30,000
kwacha ($95) and she used
this money to buy stock to
grow her business. Her loans
gradually increased as she
proved reliable with her
repayments.
Her expanding business
capital provided enough
profit to allow Doriska to
purchase a refrigerator to aid
beverage sales.
The profit delivered by her
business will allow Doriska to
send her 6 young children to
school.
Mary Banda
Mary owns a tailoring business based in Ndirande, near
Blantyre. Before becoming an Opportunity client, Mary
had unsuccessfully tried to take out loans with other
banks, but they would not consider her due to her lack
of credit history.
Mary took out her first loan with Opportunity in 2008
when she borrowed 15,00 kwacha ($47) so that she
could buy more stock for her shop. Mary is now in her
12th loan cycle, and after gradually building up the
size of loan she receives, she is currently on her 5th
repayment installment of a 45,000 kwacha loan.
Mary found the training given to her by the Opportunity
International loan officer extremely valuable. She
has adopted the business strategy taught to her and
understands the importance of maintaining capital and
keeping profits separate.
Profits gained from her tailor shop have allowed Mary
to buy land and build her own house. Due to the
financial and business support given to Mary, she has
been able to put her 3 children through school and her
daughter now owns a hairdressing business of her own.
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10. Ian Serutu
Ian owns a stall in Blantyre
market selling cosmetic
goods such as earrings,
shampoo and make up.
He first learned of
Opportunity International
in 2008 when he joined the
Tughanane Trust Group.
Ian buys a lot of his stock
from Tanzania and so has
experienced difficulties
purchasing new stock due
to the devaluation of the
kwacha.
However, through the
support of his trust group
Ian has been able to keep
up his loan repayments
and with profits from his
business he has bought a
plot of land on which he
plans to build a house for
his wife and 2 children.
In the future, Ian hopes to
expand his business and
own a number stalls in
different towns.
Victoria, Grace, Ian, Fortunate & Elliot make up the Tughanane Trust
Group based in Blantyre. They have the largest loan pool of any of the trust groups
in the area, totaling 2,270,000 kwacha. The group have a joint savings account
to hold a proportion of the profits for the individual businesses to go toward
repayments and to support any businesses that are not hitting their targets.
The group assist each other in their individual business ventures providing a trusting business support group
and lasting friendships. In the future, Tughanane Trust Group hope to start a group business strategy in the
financial services sector, providing a loan pool from which other business owners will borrow from.
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11. On the Ground
Following a visit to a local branch of OIBM and speaking with the bank
manager to understand in greater depth OIBM’s structure, Scott and
I are taken to meet several of their clients whose lives have been
transformed by loans.
The first two ladies we meet, Doriska and Mary, have been able to grow
their existing businesses with an OIBM loan. Numerous loan cycles
later they are now able to support their entire family and educate their
children.
One of the ladies, Doriska, has been able to buy a second hand
refrigerator with her loan which has pride of place in her tiny house.
Although it may seem insignificant to us, this refrigerator has allowed
her to store her homemade drinks which she sells on her market stall.
Doriska now has enough money to build herself a new house.
When I ask them both what life would have been like without the loan
they both immediately reply “appalling”. Without a credit rating the
only option was to borrow from a loan shark who charged up to 100%
interest. OIBM charges normal bank interest rates with the idea being
that their clients can eventually reintegrate into the normal banking
system without having to rely on charity.
We leave their houses and walk the short distance to the local market
to visit Doriska’s market stall where she sells her drinks. The market
resembles a shanty town and stretches as far as the eye can see, but
despite its size Doriska has been able to make a success of her stall
thanks to stock purchased with her loan.
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12. We leave this market and travel to visit a second group of five OIBM
clients who have taken out a group micro-financing loan and who are
OIBM’s most successful clients to date.
One of the stall owners, Ian, sells cosmetics which he imports from
Tanzania. The recent devaluation of the local currency, kwacha, has
meant that importation of goods has become more expensive and
times are harder than they were before, but the OIBM loan cycle has
kept his business afloat when without it he’s sure that his business
would not have survived.
The trust group works as a team; if one of the group defaults on a
loan repayment then the whole group is liable for the repayment. This
forges a strong relationship of trust between the group members and
they all strive to make their repayments on time so as not to let the
other group members down. Obviously if one of the group does get in
financial difficulties then they are secure in the knowledge that they
will be supported until the situation recovers
What strikes me with all of the clients we meet is their palpable sense
of pride; they feel a sense of worth and self respect, secure in the
knowledge that their children will have a better future than they had
envisaged and that maybe one day the poverty cycle will be broken.
Katy
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13. School Feeding
Programme
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14. One Porridge & Mary’s Meals
One Porridge is a collaboration between morning foods, Global Ethics Investment
and The One Foundation, with 100% of the profit to The One Foundation from
the sale of this porridge going towards funding school meals in rural Africa.
Mary’s Meals, a charity which feeds the world’s poorest children in a place of
education, receives a donation from each packet of One Porridge sold in UK
supermarkets and manage the school feeding programme on the ground.
The Mary’s Meals campaign started in Malawi 2002 and the charity is now feeding
over 470,000 Malawian children each school day, which is more than 17% of the
primary school population. They are fed Likuni Phala, a locally sourced, maize
based, porridge type mix.
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15. On the Ground
We spend one morning helping with a school feeding programme. The
school location is extremely rural; the 4x4 we are travelling in struggles to
negotiate the rough terrain and it takes us a good 45 minutes to reach the
school from the main road.
En-route we pass many of the children walking to school barefoot, as well
as the school’s headmaster, all who have already walked for at least an hour.
We feel guilty for travelling in a vehicle, but the kids all wave cheerfully and
run after the car for a short distance.
When we arrive at the school many of the children are already there and
they crowd round us excitedly. They are soon called into line, separated by
their different classes, and as each class walks to their first lesson the whole
school bursts into song.
A huge vat of porridge is already cooking which will, in many cases, be the
kids one main meal of the day. The porridge is made each school morning
and Mary’s Meals have trained local mothers how to make it; however at
least once a week a representative from Mary’s Meals visits the school
to make sure the porridge is being made correctly. It’s easy to burn the
porridge or for it to be the wrong consistency. It takes at least 4 hours each
morning to make enough porridge to feed the entire school.
Whist the porridge cooks we sit in on several lessons, the first of which is
English. The classrooms are tiny, with mud floors, thatched roofs and no
glass in the windows. Leaning against the back wall we feel it move, so it
certainly isn’t a safe environment for anyone, let alone children.
The rudimentary benches are made of earth and there are no desks. Each
child has one text book and two pens which they treat with care and respect.
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16. Despite the conditions, all the children love to learn and are impeccably behaved. Speaking
to the teachers regarding the impact the school feeding programme has made, they all
said that the change in the children has been remarkable as they now have the energy
and concentration to enable them to learn.
The porridge is ready to serve by mid-morning and we help to dish it out to the school.
The children wait patiently in line for their turn, each have been issued with their own
plastic mug and spoon. It takes a good half an hour to serve all the porridge, after which
we get to sample some leftovers. The porridge is warming, has a sweet taste and a thick
consistency, and by the end of the mug we feel satisfied, although it’s hard to imagine
that being our only meal of the day.
Once the porridge is finished all the children go to the nearby water pump to rinse their
mugs clean in preparation for the next day.
After porridge, and as a special treat in our honour, we spend several hours playing
football, netball and singing games, a reminder that despite the poverty these children are
no different from any other school children around the world. They are full of happiness
and laughter and their enthusiasm and energy is humbling.
When the time comes to leave there is a rugby scrum for the empty water bottles we
have in our car – our rubbish is precious treasure for the children with the water bottles
meaning they can easily carry and store the water from the pump.
Our journey back from the school is quiet and thoughtful one. It’s not exactly a feeling
of sadness, as the kids seem happy and they know no other alternative. Maybe it’s a
sense of hopelessness that whilst we go back to our nice lives they will continue the same
struggle for existence, but we’re also thankful that at least they are receiving food and
nutrition thanks to the wonderful work of The One Foundation and Mary’s meals.
Katy
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18. For more information please visit:
www.alquity.com
www.onedifference.org
or call Globaleye on +9714 404 3700
PO Box: 24592, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Tel: +971 4 4043700 | Toll Free: 800 4558 | Fax: +971 4 3489331
Email: info@globaleye.com
www.globaleye.com
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