Stokvels — SV Capital

The mandate is the whole point

A stokvel puts up with a transactional account that pays it almost nothing because several people have to sign before a rand leaves. We built that rule into the platform rather than around it. A request for money — out to a bank account, or into one of our investments — cannot be carried out until enough signatories have approved it, and that includes requests made by the chairperson.

ONE

A member asks Any member can raise a request, saying how much and exactly where it is going — the bank account, or which investment.

TWO

The signatories answer They are told straight away, on their phones. One rejection ends it: a mandate is not a majority, so it has to be raised again rather than out-voted.

THREE

Then, and only then The money moves, and everyone who approved it is told where it went. An approval is good for that one payment and cannot be reused.

Our own staff cannot approve on your stokvel’s behalf. There is no administrator button that gets round your mandate — one would hand back exactly the single point of failure the mandate removes.

Getting your stokvel on

One person opens the account and the committee builds the roster from there. Members do not need to come to a branch, and nobody is added to your group without agreeing to join.

Open the account

Sign up, then open a stokvel account from Sub-accounts. We will ask for the group’s constitution or rules, proof of a bank account, and ID documents for two or more members.

Invite the members

The chairperson, secretary or treasurer invites each member by email address or cell number. They accept it themselves, in the app — so being added to a group that can see your money is never something done to you.

Set the mandate

Tell us who the signatories are and how many must approve before money moves. We will not accept fewer than two, because a mandate of one is not a mandate.

Set the monthly contribution

The amount and the day of the month. Each member then pays theirs from their own wallet, and the whole group can see who has and who has not.

Decide together what the pot does

Leave it in the wallet earning interest, or put some of it into one of our agricultural investments — on the signatories’ approval, with capital at risk. That choice stays the group’s.

What every member can see

Not just the treasurer. The things a stokvel actually argues about are the things every member can read for themselves.

Who has paid

Every member’s contribution for every period, and who is behind by how much. Kept deliberately public to the group — a private version would reproduce the problem it exists to end.

Your share of the pot

What the group holds, what is in investments, and what each member’s share comes to — so you can do the arithmetic and find that it comes out.

Every request for money

What has been asked for, where it is going and how many signatories have approved it so far. Members who are not signatories see the same list without the buttons.

The things worth knowing before you move your stokvel

The answers a committee needs in writing, rather than after they have signed up.

How many members	Up to 50. Talk to us if your group is larger and we will see what we can do.
Taking money out	A withdrawal is payable 48 hours after the signatories approve it. The notice is what pays for the interest on the balance. Your group can also commit its money to a set date — a stokvel saving for December sets 1 December and nothing is paid before then. Where both apply, the later of the two governs.
Interest on the balance	The group wallet is interest-bearing. The rate is not fixed by this page; ask us what it is before you decide, and we will tell you in writing.
Investing the pot	Optional. Our investments are in South African commercial agriculture, principally cattle, and capital is at risk — a target return is not a promise, and money in an investment is committed for its term. A platform fee of 1% of the amount invested is charged on top of it, so the wallet pays the amount plus the fee.
When a member leaves	They ask, and the signatories approve it like any other movement of the group’s money. Anything they still owe comes off their share and stays in the pot. If the group’s money is tied up in an investment that has not matured, they are paid what the group holds now and the rest as it becomes available — we will not force an early exit from an investment to pay one member out of everybody else’s savings.
Who holds the licence	Funds are managed by SmartVest Financial Services (Pty) Ltd, an authorised Financial Services Provider, FSP 52449, with SV Capital as fund manager.

And what we do not do

We do not settle arguments between your members. We give you the record; your constitution and your committee do the rest.
We do not lend to stokvels, and we do not advance against a pot that has not been saved yet.
We are not a bank. Balances are not covered by a deposit insurance scheme.
We do not guarantee a return on any investment, and we do not give financial advice. If you want advice, speak to an authorised adviser before you commit the group’s money.

No one member can move the money. Everybody can see it.