Select’s success stories
Mrs. Mapulungoana Francina Ramoubane – Lesotho
Mrs. Mapulungoana Francina Ramoubane is a Mosotho woman employed by Department of Agriculture in their Headquarters in Maseru. She and her husband always dreamed of building their own home. In May 2014, Mrs. Ramaubane took a loan from Lesana for M46,000 to be repaid over a period of 36 months and started building their three bedroom dream home in Masuoe 2, near Maseru on a plot that her husband bought a few years earlier.
They used locally manufactured cement bricks and also local labour in order to keep the building costs as low as possible.
A few months later she managed to settle her loan with Lesana and in January 2015 she took another M20,000 to pay for the roofing of the house. Again she chose to repay the loan over 36 months.
In August 2015 they moved into their home, although it was not fully complete. In August 2016 Lesana management visited Mrs. Ramaoubane and her husband at their home. “As you can see, we are busy painting the roof and will take another loan from Lesana soon to do the plastering on the outside of the house” Mrs Ramaubane explained. “If it wasn’t for Lesana we most probably would still be staying in our old rented 2 roomed house” she added.
Mr. Esau Maxwell Kunene – Eswatini
Mr. Esau Maxwell Kunene is a 52 year old Eswatini government employee and the breadwinner of his family. He is employed as a teacher in one of the rural settlements in the Western Hhohho Region. He previously lived in a government house, and harboured the dream of owning his own home. In 2005, he began to search for a small plot of land on which to construct a house. He quickly encountered the problem of obtaining finance for this endeavour, as conventional loan products were too costly for him on a monthly salary of E3,510 (~US$430).
He then approached Select where he qualified and was approved for a loan of E20,000 (~US$2,500). This he chose to repay over a period of 24 months. He used this first loan to build a foundation and to purchase some building materials. The loan was not enough at the time to finish his house and once he had finished paying the loan off in August 2005. He took another loan, which he did repeatedly ten more times, making the total sum of money borrowed E57,000 (US$7,000).
With this, he finished building the walls, roofing, and wired and connected his five roomed home to the electricity grid. A further loan in July 2008 of E9,590 (US$1,200) was used to purchase fencing materials, build a gate and plant trees around his home. Mr. Kunene is very pleased with the housing product and intends to borrow more to complete tiling his home and also a one room flat he intends to rent out.
Article published in FinMark Trust: Scoping the Demand for Housing Microfinance in Africa, 2009.
Ms Getrude Hezekiya –
Malawi
Ms Getrude Hezekiya is employed by Malawi Police Services and resides at Waliranji in Mchinji. She saw a need to build her own house and with her current salary it was impossible to complete her house at once, thus the need to approach Select for housing finance. With the products offered at Select, she qualified for a Home Incremental Loan of MK185,000.00 over 24 months for roofing and finishes of her house. Select is delighted to have provided finance to our valued customer and we are looking forward to assisting Ms Hezekiya in the full completion of her house.
Mr Merit Simiyu Wambati – Kenya
Mr. Wambati lives with his family in Bungoma, situated in the Western Province of Kenya. He works for the Music Copyright Society of Kenya.
Mr. Wambati received his first loan from Select for the amount of KES 230,832 (USD 2,788) in September 2010. The loan proceeds combined with money already saved allowed him to buy two plots and commence with the construction of a residential unit. He took out another loan after three months to enable him to buy more building materials to complete construction.