The Chief Executive Officer of TOVA Africa, Mr Tosin Bakare, has said his organisation is willing to invest in the youth with innovative ideas.
Bakare said this at a press conference ahead of the launch of TOVA Credit Limited, a subsidiary of TOVA Africa, which was held on Thursday at its corporate office at Inalende, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
Bakare stated that the vision behind the micro-credit organisation was to break the vicious cycle of poverty and create a vicious cycle of prosperity through innovative training and through creative investment opportunities.
Speaking on the strategy being adopted by TOVA Credit Limited, Bakare said, “We would not just give you money without first training you. No micro finance is going to teach you financial literacy. But we are going to invest in the people, not just about money but we want them to be better people and we want them to become millionaires actually.”
Bakare added, “We will first start our clients up with a saving culture. Our people will go out on a regular daily contribution (Esusu or Ajo). After you have done like two or three months with us, we would be convinced about your capacity to save and then we know you are qualified. Even regular banks would want to know that you have learned the culture of savings otherwise you would get the money and use it on something else. But we don’t take savings.”
He said that TOVA would first have to flush away the mindset of poverty by an understanding that the world is full of abundance, adding, “And we would then help you to prepare business ideas. For instance, if you have N200,000 and you want to go into the business of selling tomatoes, we would consider your Unique Selling Proposition (USP). We would look at how you would sell tomatoes so that around you, you would become different and unique.
According to him, “Our micro credit system is not just a regular company you have, but our thoughts are with the masses. And that is why our interest is the barest minimum ever. While some micro finance houses out there are charging 10 percent, 12 percent or 30 percent, we are charging just five percent interest for any money you kept with us.”
Talking about the threshold, Bakare said, “The threshold we are looking at for now is about N200,000 (Two hundred thousand). We would gradually build it to N1,000,000 (One million naira) in the first year, and subsequently, you can also get N5,000,000 (Five million naira). But this is also a function of how people are able to connect with the vision.
“The vision is not just how to give out money, you must first establish that. What we want to do is to build communities for the people, and so when you join us, we would tell you, “You are welcome to the millionaires group.”
According to Bakare, that vision spurred his inspiration to establish a financial institution to change the narratives of those struggling with financial constraints, adding that, “We are a social entrepreneurship organisation – a business that adds value to humanity. The major difference is that others take collaterals even some micro finance houses but we won’t take collaterals from you. The only thing we need from you is to get guarantors.”
Speaking on loan repayment, Bakare said, “It depends on what our millionaires (clients) need and how we intend to help them manage it. But one of the things we would never do is the inhuman way microfinance houses treat those women who take loans from them.
“A businessman must get his money back one way or the other, and that is why I said we are a social entrepreneurship. We are not a regular business, as a business is about profit making. That’s the bottom line. We are somewhere in between. We are making business, and at the same time, we are making society. So, we would never do that kind of thing that would dehumanise people. Remember, we spoke about restoring the dignity of man.
“We came to the heart of Inalende, Ibadan, so when I open my office, I can see the stark reality of poverty.
While in Bar-IIan University (BIU) in Israel, I had a vision to break the vicious cycle of poverty among the black race. And that was the journey, and myself and my partner started the process of TOVA.”