Partner with MYC4. Fair and transparent funding for small and medium sized businesses

Transcription

1 Partner with MYC4 Fair and transparent funding for small and medium sized businesses

2 INTRODUCTION... 3 A. Capitalization not a Requirement for Scaling... 5 B. Cheap Funding... 5 C. Good Margins for Profitable Operations... 7 D. Quick Turn-Around Time... 7 E. No Currency or Term Mismatch... 8 F. Focus on what you do best... 8 G. Transparency... 8 H. Reputation... 8 I. Networking and Equity... 9 J. Integrate Latest Technology P a g e

3 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION MYC4 is an online market place ( which connects investors globally with African businesses that need loans. We are committed to Africa and businesses as we have set ending poverty as the goal of MYC4. In this context, MYC4 works with partners on the field in order to support its operations. MYC4 classifies its field partners as Providers and Our relationship with MYC4 has Administrators. Often, the two institutions are same or one is yielded the following owner of the other. MYC4 has enhanced growth of our As of beginning of 2009, we work with excess of 10 Provider and Administrator partners in 7 countries in East and West Africa. Providers main purpose is to manage the risk and relationship with the clients. Provider role starts with reaching out to clients, conducting appraisal of the applicant, and maintaining an overview of clients development as a business and regarding the repayment of the loan. Providers on MYC4 obtain a performance score determined along other things by the repayment performance of the businesses they have chosen to upload to MYC4 platform. The loans brought to MYC4 are recognized as the Provider s loan portfolio, although effectively that portfolio may not be owned at all by the Provider. Providers are the brand behind the loan application: the investor on MYC4 will look at Provider brand and Provider portfolio performance to make a decision regarding their participation to a loan. MYC4 demands that an institution with international activities must use the same brand in all countries. Administrators main task is to transact the loans on MYC4. This means managing the legal and cash-related transactions with the clients; in specific, signing the loan contract with the clients, and handling the disbursement and repayment of the loan. Testimonial: GATSBY TRUST - MYC4 MFI Provider in Uganda Administrator is effectively the agent of MYC4, where MYC4 expects the Administrators to be fully transparent regarding the fees charged, disbursements made and repayments received, whereby the Administrator records all of the transacted amounts on MYC4 system in a accurate and timely manner. Administrators need to be authorized as financial institutions which can make loans in their respective countries. membership. We have been able to timely fund most of our clients with MYC4 loans on more friendly terms. Our loan portfolio grew from less than 300m to over 2bn in a space of 8 months because of MYC4 funds. We have been able to strengthen/ improve our internal controls MYC4 has helped us serve other clients outside our mainstream value addition businesses With MYC4 transparency, our clients with access to internet can track their repayment progress We recruited 9 credit officers because of the increased activity brought by MYC4 funding thus creating more jobs MYC4 capacity building programme was/is very beneficial to staff members Because of MYC4, there has been increased interaction between our clients and the business advisory services Because of MYC4 workshop and capacity building conference, we were able to share experiences with different partners across Africa. Uganda Gatsby Trust is an NGO based at the Faculty of Technology, Makerere University, whose purpose is to support manufacturing and value adding businesses with the potential to grow. 3 P a g e

4 Administrators are country-specific, meaning an Administrator opening a new branch in a new country would have to obtain a separate MYC4 contract to operate in the new country. Often, the Administrator is the same institution as the Provider, or the Provider could be a holding company that owns and operates with individual Administrators in different countries of operation. Business due diligence Introduction of MYC4 and obtain consent Determination of appropriate loan amount, max interest rate, and collateral requirements Provider 1 2 Business profile upload on MYC4 MYC4 feedback and approval Business opened for bids Business MYC4 Administrator signs loan contract with the business owner Loan is disbursed to business owner by appropriate channel agreed upon Payment of closing fees to provider and Administrator upon successful disbursement 4 3 Administrator Demanded amount funded at or below max interest rate Amount transferred to Administrator s account MYC4 conduct spot-checks with around 5% of the businesses on the platform to ensure that the information received from the Providers and Administrators are aligned with reality on the field. This is the Auditor role in the above diagram. MYC4 platform accommodates investors with various motivations regarding their appetite for risk, return and social impact. We expect that investors on MYC4 earn a net return of 7-8% in EUR, whereby some of them will earn less than 5% and other around 9%. While social investors come to the platform with a small budget each and provide minority of the amounts, there will be few institutional investors providing most of the capital. Similarly, the platform will contain businesses applying for loans through large and well-established banks, and small and relatively new institutions. 4 P a g e

5 MYC4 expects to channel about 30 million EUR to African businesses through its partners in 2009, and 85 million EUR in It is free to become a Partner of MYC4 (MYC4 currently does not charge any License fees) and partnering with MYC4 has important advantages as listed below: A. Capitalization not a Requirement for Scaling MYC4 partners are not required to have a high level of capitalization in order to source funds from MYC4 market place. MYC4 manages the partner relationship via its license system, which ensures that partners incentives for good performance are established without requiring the partners to commit their own capital. In line with this policy, MYC4 incentivizes its partners to commit their capital into the loan portfolio they establish on MYC4 by allowing them a higher level of interaction and a faster growth if the partners commit some of their own capital. New partners with existing loan portfolio can start sourcing up to 100 thousand EUR per month at the beginning of their MYC4 relationship. This amount can exceed 500 thousand EUR per month at the end of 1 st year of the partnership and exceed 1 million EUR per month at the end of 2 nd year depending on the partners performance, co-financing and international footprint. Successful MYC4 s partners so far have each disbursed excess of 1 million EUR during their 1 st year of partnership and reached an outstanding portfolio of almost 1 million EUR during the same period. Continuation of their growth depends on sustaining a successful portfolio performance, rating scores, ability to co-finance and compliance to MYC4 Code of Conduct. Contact MYC4 to learn more about the Partner License Program. 1.2 B. Cheap Funding In MYC4 model, partners in Africa receive funding at rates that are determined per loan by the investors active on MYC4 platform. The investors expect approximately 6-8% in net returns in EUR, which means that depending on the country and perceived risk of the loans, they adjust their interest rates. At the moment, our partners in Kenya and Uganda are receiving funding on MYC4 at around 14%. MYC4 charges a fixed 2% interest and a 2% closing fee on the loans. Therefore, these partners receive funding in local currency at around 16% interest and 2% closing (or upfront) fees. Note that funding rates and availability depend on the perceived risk of the loan and currency, and availability of the capital on MYC4 platform. The better track record a Provider has, the lower interest rates can the Provider attract on MYC4. The rates will also change from loan to loan depending on the applicants profile and the presentation of the business on MYC4, since many of MYC4 investors have a social mission and want to make a difference for businesses they feel attached to. The diagram below is an illustration to show the build-up of price of a MYC4 loan 5 P a g e

6 MYC4 loan cost structure (12 month loan) Thousand Kenya Shillings ILLUSTRATIVE FIGURES; RATES VARY BY CASE MYC4 Provider & Administra tor TOTAL 100 6,0 6,2 1,0 2,0 109,2 Closing fee 94,0 Actual disbursement 12,0% 2,0% 4,0% Principle Investor MYC4 Interest charges* Provider & Administrator TOTAL * Interest rate on MYC4 refers to annual rate on the outstanding (declining) balance 6 P a g e

7 C. Good Margins for Profitable Operations MYC4 partners are expected to be competitive and fair in their respective lending markets. This is both to serve businesses in Africa with the best available rates, and also to align MYC4 brand with the practices on the field. MFI Income Interst rate and fees charged by the MFI (in APR terms) On Balance Sheet Loan* MYC4 Loan* 54% 25% MFI Expenses 44% 15% Cost of capital in hard currency (USD or EUR) 8% n/a Cost of currency risk hedge 10% n/a Cost of guarantee fees 8% n/a Loan loss provision costs 3% n/a Operational cost 15% 15% Profits for MFI 10% 10% Interst rate and fees charged by the MFI 54% 25% Interest charged by MYC4 investors n/a 16% Fees charged by MYC4 n/a 4% Cost to borrower (in APR terms) 54% 45% * Comparison of financials of a typical 2-year 1,000 EUR loan in Uganda Approximate hedge cost if available. In cases when MFI does not hedge currency risk, they pay for any currency devaluations, and run the high risk of any unexpected currency related losses. This is acknowledged as the highest risk facing microfiannce industry in Partners (Provider and Administrator, together) today charge 2-8% in closing fees and 2-20% in interest fees depending on the loan size. These fees are used to recover operational costs of the partner; partners do not bare any costs related to commercial funding or loan losses. The loans are owned by the investors, and thus if loans are not recovered, investors occur the respective losses. MYC4 partners established a very quick portfolio growth and they have been operationally profitable almost from day 1, as MYC4 partnership requires minimal additional upfront costs such as a fast internet connection and dedicated computer(s). D. Quick Turn-Around Time With MYC4, partners are able to source funding for projects within 5-20 days for the loans applied. The length of the wait depends on the length of the auction process, which can vary based on loan size and the attractiveness of the application. Please note the operational model below, where our partners place the loan request on our system and wait for the cash to arrive to them before they can disburse the loan to the clients. MYC4 is also in the process of enabling another operational model, where partners can disburse the loan first, then sell the loan to investors on MYC4. With this model, MYC4 shall not have any operational impact on the application time, and the amounts would be transferred within 5-20 days of application. 7 P a g e

8 E. No Currency or Term Mismatch MYC4 loans are made in the local currency. This means that any risks born with currency fluctuations between EUR and the local currency of the country are carried by the investors. MYC4 partners also don t need to worry about the term mismatches between commercial funding and their own portfolio. Usually, banks need to pay a lot of money in order to finance the term mismatch by borrowing short term funds in the interbank markets. In MYC4 model, the funds are transacted in line with the disbursement and repayment transactions; therefore are term mismatches are avoided. F. Focus on what you do best MYC4 partners are expected to manage the client relationship. They are freed from concerns and organizational costs regarding: i. commercial funding ii. currency hedging iii. portfolio provisioning MYC4 also supports partners when they need to network with international institutions both as the digital platform, and also via its institutional relationships not displayed on the platform. Our aim is that our partners focus on their challenging job on the field of appraising clients and reaching out to all businesses that can add value to their loans. G. Transparency A crucial part of MYC4 partnership is the transparency of loans, borrowers (businesses) and our partner s performances. We measure and display online at MYC4 the below among other things: i. Applicant business name, picture and key information such as estimated monthly income, industry, etc ii. The cost of the loan (in both EUR and APR Annual Percentage Rate terms), and proposed repayment schedule for the borrower iii. The cash-flow, and repayment status of each loan (only to investors invested the loan) iv. Partner s portfolio performance in terms of PAR Portfolio at Risk H. Reputation MYC4 is a well-known platform from the perspective of the investors, globally; especially in Scandinavia and the Netherlands. We have 13,000 investors as of beginning of 2009 and project to accommodate 50,000 investors by the end of Being on MYC4 will greatly help building a reputation for the partnering institutions. The greatest reputation-building factor is transparency itself. A well-performing institution obtains this on MYC4 via a very transparent historic performance. Another important reputation factor is to be part of the MYC4 branding: MYC4 brands itself as the platform where borrowers (businesses) are creating value for their economies and help end poverty. Our partners are therefore recognized as partners collaborating in a social mission next to being a financial institution. 8 P a g e

9 I. Networking and Equity MYC4 conducts a Partners Conference every year, where global investors are participants as well as Banks and MFIs from around Africa. Northern European and North American institutions such as IFU, FMO, ATP, Unitus, d.o.b, Google Foundation etc are expected participants to this Conference and are potential future shareholders in various African Banks and MFIs. One of MYC4 partners, Capital Micro Credit (CMC), is receiving due diligence by one of the above mentioned institutions. MYC4 supports this process and expects this other deals to close successfully. J. Integrate Latest Technology MYC4 is the first international peer to peer (P2P) financing platform that handles for-profit investments. It is also the first international platform where the cash-flow of the borrowers, and Providers performance can be tracked real-time. Being the leader in this aspect, MYC4 is approached by other internet service businesses where MYC4 is working on collaborations. Integration of SMS, mobile banking, internet-based client networking and location functionalities are some of the projects we are looking at. MYC4 partners will be part of these innovative projects. 9 P a g e

10 For any further information please contact MYC4 A/S Att.: Director, African Operations Pete Ondeng, Frederiksholms Kanal 4, 4. DK-1220 Copenhagen K Denmark Phone: Fax: LET'S END POVERTY BY 2015: MYC4 connects people and capital online to facilitate investments in African Businesses - in support of the United Nations 2015 Millennium Development Goals and Global Compact. 10 P a g e