Thirty-two years ago today, high school students in Soweto marched peacefully to protest the order to educate them in Afrikaans – a language they did not know.   One they perceived to be the language of the “oppressor.”   Before they arrived at their destination, South African police opened fire, killing unarmed youngsters.  As the death toll soared to more than 600, images of the massacre ricocheted around the world, galvanizing the international community, and changing the face of the country’s freedom struggle forever.
We dedicate this  2007 Annual Report  to those children – and also to today’s families struggling to feed their children at a time of rising food prices, to create jobs for them as nearly half job-seeking youth remain unemployed, and to launch a new generation of young black entrepreneurs, working hard to enter industries and access credit previously reserved for whites.
Expectations and stakes are high.  South Africa’s future and that of its neighbors — including the political and economic refugees living within its borders — depend on the country’s ability to deliver for this generation.  Sub-Saharan Africa’s largest economy must “get it right” in order to make a reality of the hopes for which Soweto’s children marched, and to help galvanize the peaceful and equitable development of the region and the continent.
Shared Interest has benefited more than one million low-income black South Africans.  Your generosity counts. Please join us by forwading your financial support to reach the next million South Africans. 

Sincerely,

Donna Katzin
Executive Director

2007 Annual Report : on the cover of the report is Nosimphiwe Tafeni makes Xhosa dolls from recylced bottles in Khayelitsha as part of the Masiphihlisane group, which received a loan from Shared Interest beneficiary Kuyasa.

A Million Ripples Gala was held at the Carnegie Music Hall, a Historic Landmark, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and is located, about 15 minutes from downtown. The following day, Thursday, October 25th, commences with a breakfast, by invitation only, followed by an Interfaith Service open to the public which will be lead by His Grace, Archbishop Tutu. The Interfaith Service will be held at the Calvary Episcopal Church, a magnificent example of Gothic Revival Architecture, also in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Thursday afternoon, join us for a Conference highlighting the impact Shared Interest has had in South Africa in the area of micro-credit lending and economic justice, as well as discussion regarding how other countries deal with issues of discrimination and poverty. The Conference theme, “Imagine A Community”, will discuss and share ideas and solutions in the areas of Finance, Education, Health & Youth that are currently implemented in South Africa and other countries that attempt to deal with the impact of class division, racism and poverty. The time and venue for the Imagine A Community Conference to be announced.

Please contact Shared Interest Board Member, Beth Slagle, at 412.456-2890 or bas@muslaw.com or Shared Interest Director of Administration, Sandra Zanele Zikalala, at 646-442-0181  for more information. 

Fall 2007 In Focus Newsletter  

With reporting in the U.S. and South Africa, this radio segment highlights the passionate commitment of the Carlisle investor group to raise resources for Shared Interest and entrepreneurs from the successful Hands-On Fishing project in the Western Cape.

 To hear the segment please click on http://marketplace.publicradio.org/shows/2007/08/08/PM200708087.html.

(Please consult the market place website www.marketplace.org) to find out when the radio program is aired on your local station.) Please also feel free to share this email with at least five other people, so they too will be inspired to build support for economic justice and democracy in South Africa. For more information on Shared Interest and how you can advance this work, please visit Shared Interest us at http://www.sharedinterest.org.

In the article below, we are pleased to spotlight Neo Mogape, Production Manager of Tropical Mushrooms – one of the unsung heroines of South Africa’s small business sector.  She is one of the 750,000 women who have benefited from our work since 1994.  One of the many who are leading South African women’s daily struggle to sustain their families and communities, and reshape their country’s economy.  We invite you to celebrate this day with us – and with them.

 Donna Katzin

Executive Director

Women Help Small Businesses Mushroom

In South Africa, small and medium sized community- based businesses are mushrooming - literally. And women are playing a leading role in their success.

In Magaliesburg (Northwest Province), Neo Mogapi - one of the first people employed by the country’s only major black-owned and black-operated mushroom grower, Tropical Mushrooms - manages production and supervises 18 pickers. Neo, in her late 20’s, cares for her three children before beginning work early in the morning, and sometimes works into the night. “If you leave the mushrooms they will open, and the people will not buy,” she explains. “You have to finish.”

After completing high school, Neo went to work at Denny’s Mushrooms, South Africa’s largest mushroom company. But she was only offered a part- time job. When she heard that Tropical was opening a new company, she applied with hopes of obtaining full- time employment. Tropical recognized her skills and commitment, and selected and trained her to manage, train, and hire the mushroom pickers - most of whom are women from her community. In this position, Neo has played a key role in establishing Tropical’s policies, practices and productivity. She and the other original employees currently own 18 percent of the company through an employees’ shareholder trust - a share they hope to increase in the future.

The company’s 65 full-time employees earn approximately R1035 a month, which far exceeds the minimum rural wage of R800 a month for rural jobs in areas like Magaliesburg. They also receive benefits including a retirement fund, group life and funeral insurance. Named South Africa’s Best Agricultural SMME in 2003, the company also makes charitable donations to not-for-profits organizations serving impoverished, abused and HIV-positive women and children.

Tropical’s history reflects the changing profile of small black-owned enterprises in South Africa. When Peter Nyathi and the employee-owners launched the business in a highly conservative area of the province in 1999, they struggled with white suppliers, who thought they could take advantage of them because of their color. They quickly disabused the suppliers. At first, Tropical needed to send a white agent to sell their product. Sales went well, until one of the white clients asked the name of the company’s owner. When he heard the majority owner was “Nyathi,” he dumped the samples on the floor and threw the agent out of the shop.

Recognizing the limits of the local market, Tropical began to sell to both wholesalers and some of the larger retail chains, such as Pick & Pay and SPAR Stores, as well as pizza restaurants. The company increased its sales revenue from R1.6 million to R4.6 million between 2001 and 2005. One of the country’s largest retail chains, Pick ‘N Pay alone has indicated an interest in tripling its current purchases. At times demand outstrips what the company can supply.

Neo’s biggest challenge as a manager? “The customers!” she answers without hesitation. “They become cheeky. They begin calling at 5:00 in the morning and want their mushrooms that same morning. If I tell them we do not have as many as they want, they say, ‘don’t tell me that!’ What am I supposed to tell them?”

Tropical’s growth is supported by the South Africa’s black economic empowerment (BEE) scorecards that give higher points to companies that are themselves black-owned or purchase from black-owned businesses. Quality-producing small and medium sized black-owned businesses, like Tropical Mushrooms, have a leg up, as BEE codes require public procurement officers to factor a company’s BEE performance into all purchasing decisions. This means that the wholesale companies that buy Tropical’s mushrooms receive a better BEE score and have a better chance of receiving orders from government agencies.

In order to expand to meet increasing demand, Tropical needed capital. With the help of a Shared Interest guarantee, the company has obtained a R4,066,666 loan from ABSA Bank, and plans to construct additional buildings, purchase equipment and hire 35 more workers. The goal is to double the size of its growing area and boost output by an additional 115%, elevating projected sales revenues to R11 million. Currently, the fifth largest mushroom producer in the country, Tropical plans to become the third largest and employ 100 people.

Neo is confident that as the company expands, she will have no difficulty supervising the anticipated 35 pickers, as she knows the business and is comfortable as a manager. She has developed her self-assurance and leadership on the job. “I used to be a quiet person,” she recalls. “But to work with people, you have to talk. Now I can talk.”

As the company grows, Neo feels a sense of satisfaction and ownership. She recalls with pride, “I picked the first mushroom.”

Largest Faith-based Pension Fund Invests $1 Million for Small and Micro-enterprise Development in South African Low-Income Communities
Investment seeks to alleviate poverty and build wealth in South Africa’s economically marginalized communities

NEW YORK, July 5, 2007 – Shared Interest, a leading New York-based social investment fund, has received a $1 million investment from The United Methodist General Board of Pension and Health Benefits to support small and micro-enterprise development in South Africa’s most impoverished communities, signifying the pension fund’s commitment to invest in economically marginalized communities like those served by their African clergy.

The five-year investment, which is Shared Interest’s largest single investment, is one of the first U.S. pension fund investments in African communities.

Funded by U.S. investors, Shared Interest works with its South African partner, the Thembani International Guarantee Fund, to guarantee South African bank loans to communities underserved by mainstream financial institutions, for small and micro-enterprises, affordable housing and rural community businesses and cooperatives.

This investment demonstrates the Pension Board’s commitment to building a democratic South Africa through prudent and productive investments in the country’s underserved communities,” said Donna Katzin, executive director of Shared Interest.“We are proud that the United Methodist General Board of Pension and Health Benefits is partnering with Shared Interest to unlock these communities’ tremendous economic and human potential.”

Today, more than half of all South Africans still lack access to banking and other financial services. Shared Interest serves loan clients, who have been historically excluded from financial services due to race, income levels, health status, or gender.

The $1 million investment will leverage at least $6 million in loans to clients of South African community development finance institutions, benefiting an estimated 30,000 entrepreneurs. Since 1994, Shared Interest has benefited nearly one million black South Africans, of whom more than 75 percent are women.

David Zellner, chief investment officer for The United Methodist General Board of Pension and Health Benefits, said the pension fund’s investment in Shared Interest will help provide retirement security for United Methodist clergy in Africa and represents a continuation of its investments in the area of microfinance.

“Concurrent with this initiative, the General Board wanted to make an investment that had a positive social impact on the African continent, home of rapidly growing church membership,” said Zellner. He noted that the pension fund strives to place funds with organizations that will deploy their capital in a manner that will positively impact the lives of underserved individuals in the United States and abroad.

With more than $15 billion in assets under management, the United Methodist pension fund is the largest faith-based pension fund in the United States and ranks among the top 100 pension funds in the country. A socially responsible investor, the pension fund has invested more than $600 million in social investment opportunities since the program’s inception in 1991.

ABOUT SHARED INTEREST 

Shared Interest, an $11.4 million not-for-profit investment fund, mobilizes resources for South Africa’s economically disenfranchised communities to sustain themselves and build an equitable nation.  The fund guarantees bank loans and mobilizes technical assistance for low-income communities to construct houses, create jobs, and launch small businesses. Launched in 1994, Shared Interest has benefited more than 975,000 black South Africans – more than 75 percent of them women.

ABOUT UNITED METHODIST GENERAL BOARD OF PENSION AND HEALTH BENEFITS

The General Board of Pension and Health Benefits is a not-for-profit administrative agency of The United Methodist Church, responsible for the general supervision and administration of the retirement, health and welfare benefit plans, programs and funds for more than 74,000 clergy and lay employees of the Church.

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2006 has been a year of breakthroughs for Shared Interest and its partners in South Africa. During those 12 months, as you will see in our annual report, we have more than doubled the number of people we have served during our first 12 years. As of December 31, 2006, Shared Interest’s work had benefited more than 975,000 low-income black South Africans.

And yet, South Africa continues to confront a bitter reality. Thirteen years after the birth of its democracy, unemployment rates as high as 85% still grip South Africa’s rural areas, where 46 percent of its population resides. Most rural families are black. The majority live in deep poverty. Youngsters growing up in these communities see few opportunities for work (other than seasonal employment on white-owned farms), and know they will most likely need to seek jobs in urban areas.

On June 16, Youth Day, South Africans celebrate the anniversary of the 1976 Soweto massacre. As the country mourns the unarmed children gunned down during a peaceful anti-apartheid protest, it recommits itself to the future of its next generation.

Shared Interest and its guarantee partners in rural communities are forging new futures for their youth by creating jobs, wealth - and hope. Recognizing that many initiatives to transform these impoverished areas have fallen short, Shared Interest and our partner, Thembani, are supplying not only access to finance, but also the technical assistance and market linkages that community businesses and cooperatives require to succeed

The products of Shared Interest’s innovative rural partnerships range from chickens to trout, and sugarcane to mushrooms. We often work with agricultural businesses that are expanding rapidly, like Tropical Mushrooms, and adding value to their produce, such as the Diretsogetse Pankop fruit and vegetable farm and dehydration plant. It is fitting that Diretsogetse was named by its community’s young people. It means, “opportunities have come to us.”

We invite you to make a tax-deductible contribution to “Shared Interest” now to create new possibilities for youth in other communities. As always, we appreciate your support for today’s - and tomorrow’s South Africans.

Donna Katzin

Executive Director

Neo Mogapi, Manager of Tropical Mushrooms featured on 2006 Annual Report.