Eswatini (Swaziland)

Business overview

Select Management Services was established in Eswatini in 1999 and has grown to become the dominant micro lender in the market, by both brand and market share. Select has 5 branch offices in Eswatini, namely, Manzini, Mbabane, Nhlangano, Piggs Peak and Siteki.

Select offers a full suite of retail credit financial products in Eswatini. The target market is salaried employees in the lower to middle income section of the employed market. Additional benefits such as credit life insurance and funeral cover insurance are included as part of the credit facility, as a means of socially enhancing the credit product.

Select is working to leverage its dominant position in the Eswatini market to become a broad based provider of retail financial services. In 2008 an independent survey of the Eswatini operations revealed that 38% of Select’s loans were being used for housing linked purposes; comprising items such as roof repairs, plastering, painting, extensions and even construction of new homes on a room-by-room basis. It is this fact which sparked a more focused approach from Select in Eswatini to create a housing product that would add value to the end user beyond the extension of credit. Select first successfully offered its Housing Microfinance loan product in Eswatini in 2009.