Charlotte Smit, Sales & Marketing Executive: Eduloan
Recognising the raw potential that exists in Africa, Eduloan is expanding its offering into the rest of the African continent.
After eighteen years of successful business in South Africa, and having helped more than 720,000 South Africans unlock their true potential with more than R3,7 billion in study loans, we are looking forward to bringing this exciting new endeavour to fruition. We aim to become a catalyst for changing lives through education beyond South Africa’s borders.
We believe this commitment to the rest of the continent will enable us to step up our business to the next level, by broadening our impact on people’s lives through enabling access to education solutions.
A catalyst precipitates an event or change. Every time Eduloan grants a loan, administrates a bursary or connects its stakeholders, we trigger a series of events that lead to a better life for the student, his or her family and ultimately their entire community.
In 2013 we ran a successful pilot project in Zimbabwe in collaboration with Business Environment Services (BES). BES has an understanding of the educational environment in Zimbabwe and is equally passionate about making a difference in that country through education. BES also has close ties with tertiary learning institutions in Zimbabwe.
To date Eduloan has granted loans to 300 students to the value of R2,8 million in Zimbabwe, and we aim to push this up to R15 million by the end of 2014.
We have a three-year plan to extend our offering to SADC countries and are currently in discussions with Zambia, Botswana and Nigeria. We are very clear on our strategic intent on doing business in Africa:
• Eduloan is all about social impact and unlocking potential. Therefore one of our key focus areas is to grow into new territories in Africa.
• As a business we are also very aware of the strategic risks that come with concentrating on a single market. Our expansion into Zimbabwe, followed by expansion to other African countries, will help minimise that risk.
• We want to grow the Eduloan brand.
• We want to gather information for future use in new markets.
In deciding in which countries we want to establish Eduloan following Zimbabwe, we are looking at several factors, drawing on the World Bank’s criteria for ease of doing business in a country. For instance, the time travelling to prospective countries should at first not exceed two hours, English should be the language of business, and government spending on education must be substantial.
To further cement our ties with prospective countries, we visit and meet with the various education and finance ministers. Government representatives of Zambia and Botswana will visit Eduloan in South Africa in the foreseeable future, to continue our negotiations.
Eduloan was well-received at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair in April this year. Visitors to our stand were excited about the opportunities we are unlocking for students in South Africa and what we could accomplish in their countries.
An important part of Eduloan’s vision is to instil financial discipline in students by giving them the means and support to manage their loans responsibly. We will provide exactly the same educational support in the rest of Africa, by providing educational information and articles on social media, and through seminars and visits to universities, as well as local media interactions.
ABOUT EDULOAN
"Education drives the nation forward. Our mission is to empower individuals to become that driving force in their own way."
Eduloan is a leading education finance specialist operating in Southern Africa. Committed to making education both affordable and accessible to all individuals looking to further their education. Since its inception in 1996 Eduloan has awarded over 720 000 study loans to the value of more than R3.7 billion and continues to help thousands across Africa unlock their true potential.
By making study finance as affordable as possible, Eduloan ensures that a large number of individuals who would otherwise not qualify for educational finance now have the means to improve their lives, the lives of their loved ones, and our nation as a whole through education. The Eduloan vision is to improve people's lives through financial access to education. Eduloan understands the real costs associated with furthering your education and offers study loan solutions that cover not only course fees, but additional expenses such as textbooks, registration fees and technology which includes laptops, tablets and other study equipment that may be associated with your studies. Eduloan also offers fund and bursary administration solutions to assist students and bursars alike in effectively managing bursary funds, training funds, CSI funds, cashless payments and class attendance of students and learnership beneficiaries.
As a registered credit service provider, Eduloan is fully committed to empowering Southern Africans through our product offering. Eduloan is a proud Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Level 2 contributor.
For more information, call Eduloan’s Client Services Department on 0860-55-55-44 or visit www.eduloan.co.za. Follow us on Twitter/EduloanSA and Facebook/EduloanSA.
