As champions of banking the unbanked in KwaZulu-Natal, Ithala SOC Limited believes poverty alleviation and wealth creation can be fast-tracked through financial inclusion.

Recently appointed CEO, Danny Zandamela, affirms that the critical role Ithala SOC Limited has to play in making banking and financial services more accessible to marginalised communities is understated.

Ithala SOC Limited, whose mandate is to serve ordinary South Africans and help them to manage their money and create wealth, is a 100 percent owned subsidiary of Ithala Development Finance Corporation.

Under Zandamela’s new leadership, the strategic imperatives outlined by the organisation for the next few years include bridging the digital divide; 100% compliance with regulatory requirements to become a fully-fledged bank; improving customer service delivery; intensifying use of technology based products; creating an enabling business environment and increasing profitability and organisational capacity.

“Both strategically and operationally, we are making every effort to meet the South African Reserve Bank’s requirements for obtaining a full banking licence and to become a fully-fledged bank,” said Zandamela.

The financial services institution is forging ahead with its growth plans. Already significant steps have been made to fill key positions as evidenced by the appointment of Zandamela on 1 September 2017 followed by Lebogang Serithi as the Chief Financial Officer and Luvuyo Keyise as Chief Technology Officer.

Financial literacy programmes feature prominently on Ithala’s strategy dashboard. As part of an ongoing commitment to financial literacy, Ithala SOC Limited regularly interacts with consumers on issues of money management.

‘Starsaver’ is a national savings campaign which draws attention to the important role that volunteer bankers and financial sector professionals can play in educating the nation’s youth to become lifelong savers.

Nationally, since 2008, the programme has reached almost one million learners, and many more through programme integration in over 3 000 schools nationwide. Twenty one banks and 43 financial institutions participate in the ‘StarSaver’ programme.

“A strong ethos of customer-care and community partnerships sustain the Ithala brand, thus differentiating us from our competitors. As an entity wholly-owned by the KZN provincial government, our overall goals and strategies are geared to meet government priorities and accelerate radical economic transformation,” concluded Zandamela.