After 4+ years to bring this project to life, Nthabeleng Likotosi has paved the way for the first female-owned bank in South Africa.

The South African entrepreneur, who also founded the Young Women in Business Network (YWBN), took to her Twitter account to share this milestone achievement, which welcomed many hearty comments.

She wrote:

“I believed I could, I started. I believed ordinary Afrikaans would support my vision; they did. It took us 4+ years, but who was counting anyway. Together we got approved for the first women-owned bank in the history of South Africa. We did it #YWBNmutualBank”.

With a mission to promote financial inclusion and representation among black women in south Africa, Nthabeleng Likotosi–wants to change the traditional “boys club” thing in the financial sector.

In South Africa, black women, especially in the financial sector, are marginalized. We are not represented in senior executive positions, so this is a big deal; the financial industry is male-dominated, ‘it’s a boys club,'” Likotosi shared with the press.

The YWBN founder–also reveals that –for “ownership, senior executive management to lower management, the majority in the mutual bank are black women, this is for the transformation purpose in the sector.”

She also disclosed that–the South Africa Reserve Bank–gives them up to 12 months to set up and officially launch to the public, while from June 2021, “different types of shares will be made available to the public–depending on their affordability.”

The mutual bank is digital –which will be available as an app on phones with no branches as it is not a commercial bank.

While the bank focus will be on savings and business loans, whether the bank’s name will change from YWBN is unknown.

Who is Nthabeleng Likotsi

Nthabelng is a South African accountant, businesswomen, entrepreneur, and community leader. She founded Young Women in Business Network in 2009. She has a vital interest in women empowerment, resulting in the formation of YWBN- which has led to the new mutual bank she established.

Source:Business Report Online, SA

Photos: Nthabeleng Likotosi, Twitter Account