NewTech Friday: VIRL Financial Services – Offering customized loans to Zimbabwean MSMEs

Virginia Sibanda is the Founder and CEO of VIRL Financial Services. She spoke with Boris Plantier from Quorus about her company’s mission to provide tailor-made loans to meet the needs of small holder farmers, micro and small enterprises in Zimbabwe.

What led to the creation of VIRL Financial Services?

I was influenced by the fact that 80% of economically active people in my country do not have access to reliable financial services. Access to capital supported by technical and skills training can bring economic empowerment to economic active individuals. This in turn will improve local economies and improve safety nets. I am a product of a grandmother whose only source of income was her ability to make garments using a manual sewing machine. It is this tenacity that resides in most people that is a sure bet. My background is in financial services and my MBA thesis was on how to provide capacity for micro and small enterprises and lend to them sustainably.  VIRL Financial Services is about finding real solutions which is influenced by the people that it serves. The end game is to reimagine the world to make it better for more people.