Rejoice Masebo, National Coordinator of Women Investment Cooperative, Malawi

Oct 23, 2024 Rejoice Masebo, National Coordinator of Women Investment Cooperative, Malawi

Please tell us your name, where your business is located and what is it that you do?

My Name is Rejoice Masebo, I am the National Coordinator of Women Investment Cooperative, WINCO. Founded on Women Economic Empowerment principles, motivated by making impactful social change as well as profits, Women Investment Cooperative, is a proudly women- led, women managed initiative exploring and building strategic investments in key sectors of Malawi economy such as Finance and Agriculture. We aim to reach out to every woman in Malawi who is economically active in any way at any level with services that build necessary skills, Knowledge and tool and stimulate access to productive resources and markets to pursue financial independence. WINCO has its offices in Lilongwe, The capital city in Malawi.

Tell us about how you got started.

Women groups, in Malawi have been centered on Village Savings & Loan Associations, VSLAs also referred to as Village Banks that have been established across the country by government agencies, donor agencies or self-initiated. These Village Banks usually work in isolation and independent of each other, operate inefficiently due to low entrepreneurship and business capacity of group members thus reducing their impact on their members. Much as women are involved and participate in the Village Banks, there is no return on their investment as most of them participate in the initiatives as saving to cover specific costs such as school fees and agriculture inputs. The length of cycle of the in the village bank is one year by which all loans must be repaid and all savings redistributed with a share of interest. Most of the time others get very little money because all their savings are absorbed in interest generated by failure to pay back loans to the extent that at times family property has been grabbed for failure of loan repayment. After sharing the money at the end of the year, members can leave or continue in the next cycle. The motivation to save for business and wealth creation is none existence as they see no incentives to do so. WINCO was therefore established to convert the existing collective strength among women groups into scalable and profitable investment opportunities. Our structure gives direct ownership of the cooperative to the women that buy a share as an individual or a group, thus offering women even those from the poor areas of Malawi, a stake in the world of large investment opportunities and real returns on their investments.

What makes your company unique?

WINCO operates as business and market development catalyst providing members with opportunities through a number of portfolios and services. FINANCE – WINCO embarked on a journey to gain a foothold in the financial sector in Malawi with a vision of establishing a women’s bank. As part of the strategy, the Cooperative established a SACCO to continue mobilizing resources and providing financial services to women such as; savings and loans as well as financial and investment education. AGRICULTURE – Converting women provision of labor in agriculture into profits 90% of labor provision by women in the agriculture sector means that women remain at the bottom of the functions in any value chain in the agriculture sector. WINCO Agriculture represents a long-term vision to build the capacity of women to move from the provision of labor to investing into high value functions of the value chain, such as commercial farming, input supplying, processing and export trading. RETAILING; WINCO will pursue and gain a foothold in the agriculture export trade, chain store retail business not only to give the opportunity to access local and international markets and get primary income but enable women even the rural poor have a stake in the profits generated from the export trade retail shops. PROPERTIES; WINCO will pursue and get foot-hold in property investment particularly land acquisition for further distribution to women who are very disadvantaged when it comes to owning property. FOOD PROCESSING; Support women in the sector to improve the quality of food processing systems and final products. CLOTHING & TEXTILES; Support women to refine the quality of their merchandise and scale up their reach to regional/international markets. ART & CRAFTS; Support women to master their art and craft and integrate their products and services into other sectors to extend their market reach for higher income. ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT; Provide capacity building opportunities for better management and upscaling of women’s enterprises to robustly position them as key participants and economic drive

No business is without setbacks, can you tell us about a time when you faced a significant setback and how you recovered from it?

WINCO has faced a number of challenges in the journey some challenges are from within and others are external. Internally, the organization lacked capacity as it depended of skills from among members were also involved in their own businesses and this affected the operations of the business. Lack of finances to provide needed services to the members particularly training as most of the member have low financial literacy levels, fewer assets, lack business and entrepreneurship skills, these made it difficult to invest and manage their businesses well. Two external challenges we faced during this journey was firstly the political unrest prior to elections in 2020 characterized by demonstrations, saw a lot of women losing their business wares and lost money in the process and found it difficult to service their loans. As we were recovering, then came COVID 19 which made the situations worse. Over time some women did not see the value in investing in WINCO and decided to opt out of the organization. The organization is now at re-building stage, re- visiting lessons learnt, reviewing policies and frameworks that would protect shareholder’s investment. Looking at how the cooperative itself can generate funds, therefore a subsidiary business in agriculture was established called WINCO- Agricorp. This arm is responsible for planning facilitating and administering agriculture activities for and with women. We have designed a product called MTOLO (Meaning a bundle of products and services) including all activities including securing of land, facilitation access to inputs and agricultures services, contract negotiation with suppliers and off takers and monitoring of agriculture activities among the women with experts.

How do you define success and to what do you attribute your success?

The fact that the organization is still standing after going through so many challenges is our success. We define success as being able to come up with solutions to achieve your vision, in the face of challenges. We have used the challenges as an opportunity to review our policies, frameworks, communication processes, engagement with the stakeholders and mobilization strategy.

What's next for your business, what will it look like in 5 years?

We aim to have a significantly increased number of women led businesses we support by then, we expect many of these businesses to have matured, creating jobs and contributing to economic growth of the communities. We aim to expand membership and outreach, we hope to have expanded our membership across multiple regions, creating opportunities for thousands of women from diverse sectors to join the cooperative. Increased access to resources. Success in 5 years will mean having established stronger partnerships with financial institutions, government programs, and international organizations providing our members with greater access to capital, mentorship and business resources. Global recognition in the next 5 years, we envision being recognized as pioneering model for women led investment cooperative, with our approach being replicated in other regions as a blueprint for sustainable, inclusive growth.

What do you think the future holds for Africa-focused entrepreneurs and advice do you have for entrepreneurs who are just starting out?

Booming youth population and innovation. Africa’s young and dynamic population is a catalyst for innovation and entrepreneurship with increasing access to technology and education, young entrepreneurs are driving innovation in areas of aggrotech, health, renewable energy which presents a bright future for startup looking to tap into youthful energy and creativity. Growing access to markets. Africa entrepreneurs are gaining greater access to global intra African markets and the Africa inter-continental free trade is creating opportunities for cross border trade, reducing tariffs and making it easier for business to expand. Sustainability and green economy, with growing global focus on sustainability, Africa entrepreneurs who priotize eco –friendly, socially responsible businesses will find new opportunities. Advice for Entrepreneurs who just started? Start small but think big, focus on starting with solid, achievable plan, but keep long term vision in mind. It’s important to grow sustainably, taste your idea on a small scale, learn from them and build a foundation for future expansion. Focus on solving real problem, the most successful entrepreneurs focus on solving real tangible problems, understand the needs of your customers and your community. Build strong network, networking is essential for growth, surround yourself with mentors, peers and professionals who guide and supports.

Owning a business while balancing a personal life can be challenging; how do you take care of yourself?

Balancing the demand of running business with maintaining fulfilling personal life is certainly challenging, but it’s essential for long term success and wellbeing. Here are some of the strategies that help me take care of both aspects. Set a clear boundary, establishing boundaries between work and personal life is crucial, I allocate specific hours for work and make sure to set aside personal time that’s nonnegotiable. This helps me avoid burnout ensure that my business doesn’t take over every aspect of my life. Prioties’ self-care, taking care of my physical and mental health is essential. I make time for exercise, eat healthy and ensures I get enough rest. Quality over quantity, when it comes to personal life, I focus on quality of time rather than quantity, make sure that the time I spent with my family is meaningful.

What is your favorite quote or mantra? What keeps you going?

One of my favorite quote is “She believed she could, so she did”. This simple yet powerful mantra embodies the strength of belief and perseverance. It reminds me that with confidence, determination and hard work, anything is possible. It inspires me to keep pushing through challenges, no matter how difficult they may seem. Purpose and vision is one of the things that keeps me going, I’m deeply driven by the purpose of empowering women through entrepreneurship. Knowing that my work can create opportunities and positive change for others keeps me motivated even on tough days. Resilience is the other thing that keeps me going, Challenges are inevitable, but I have learned that setback are part of the journey, my resilience and belief in long term success keep me moving forward. Impacting on others keeps me going, seeing the tangible impact of my work, whether it’s helping a woman launch her business or supporting a community initiative fuels my passion and knowing that what I do makes a difference keeps me committed.

What is your favorite app or a business tool that you can't live without