Breaking the cycle of poverty and empowering individuals and communities
Saving Group Members
Average annual savings
SaveAct facilitates the formation of savings groups in communities as a simple but effective tool to fight poverty, as a foundation for building sustainable livelihoods, and as a means to empower women and other vulnerable groups.
Founded in Pietermaritzburg in 2005, we have 110 000 individual members in eight provinces in South Africa and work with a network of committed partner organisations.
Our unique savings model incorporates:
Last-mile Distribution
What We Do
Savings groups and financial capability
We facilitate the establishment in rural communities of voluntary savings groups that allow people to save and grow their money. We work with partners across eight provinces to scale up the model, which includes financial education and enterprise development.
Livelihoods and enterprise development
Building on the success of savings groups, we have created a livelihoods and enterprise development (LED) programme. This aims to improve livelihood and wealth creation opportunities in a sustainable manner while empowering people to take ownership of their enterprises.
Last mile access: Zis’Ukhanyo
To achieve long-term sustainability, savings groups and enterprise groups need to be able to access goods and services at reasonable prices — often in deep rural areas where these commodities are hard to come by. The Zis’Ukhanyo programme tackles those needs.
Building ecosystems
We have a vision of using technology and access to markets to build an improved “ecosystem” with financial and other services designed around the needs of savings groups and, more generally, those who continue to be largely excluded from the dominant development path.
Latest News
Working your way up…again and again!
Milan Vezi joined SaveAct in 2019. First interviewed in 2020 as part of the introduction of the WAYSE project, she has come a very long way in the success of her business. Let’s start from the beginning! As Ms Vezi was unemployed, she thought the best way for her to...
The young teaching the younger
Athi Bhungalipheli, 32, started saving with SaveAct in 2017. From that day on, she has done nothing but soar, and teach the youth within her community how to do the same. She used her first share-out to buy egg-laying chickens; with the next, she was able to get a tap...
From this business to that
Two years later, Gcobani Qhina is still thinking about how to thank his sister for encouraging him to join SaveAct. Mr Qhina joined his savings group in 2021, and has since started his most successful business, while expanding his already established enterprises by...
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