FINANCING
TRUDI MAKHAYA: Minibus sector can build on history of co-ops and stokvels
Last week’s protest by minibus taxi drivers and owners raised the profile of an issue that has bubbled under the surface for some time: the cost of financing their vehicles. On many platforms, the repeated question was: why does such a sizeable sector not finance itself? This is not a question we ask of other industries, but it was asked in the right spirit. The taxi industry represents a shred of economic self-sufficiency for black businesspeople, and there is a desire to deepen that independence. More broadly, the protest spoke to the challenges that entrepreneurs, especially those outside the "mainstream" (though there is arguably no industry more central to this economy’s functioning than the taxi industry) face in obtaining appropriate finance for their businesses. Part of the solution for this challenge lies in alternative financial institutions driven by the needs of those they serve.More than 10 years ago, I had a classmate at business school who had worked in a company that...
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