May 26th, 2022

Sinapi Aba Savings and Loan (SASL) was born out of Sinapi Aba Trust (SAT) in 2013. As a previous Kiva marketplace partner (2007-2014), SAT was founded as a Non-Financial entity on the 30th of May, 1994, under the company’s code 1963 (Act 179). In 2013, SAT transformed its legal formation from a Trust to a Company limited by Shares and subsequently changed its name from Sinapi Aba Trust(SAT) to Sinapi Aba Savings and Loan(SASL). Upon the legal transformation, SASL subsequently took over all the microfinance operations of SAT. SASL also transformed from a credit-only MFI into a Tier 1 institution (Savings & Loans) regulated under the Non-bank Financial Institutions Act, 2008 (Act 774) and the Banking Act, 2004 (Act 673) as amended by Act 73. 

January 21, 2014

Kiva and Sinapi Aba Trust have ended their partnership. This is due to Kiva increasing its focus on loans that would not be offered without subsidized capital from Kiva lenders. You can learn more about this strategy here. As a well-developed and reputable organization with a range of other international funders, Sinapi Aba Trust is able to reach its target population and fulfill its social mission without Kiva's support. 

Over the course of the partnership, Sinapi Aba Trust made payments on time and has been a strong and reliable Field Partner. We thank them for their collaboration and hope to work with them again in the future.

September 13, 2011

In the partner page update from May 2, 2011, Kiva clarified that SAT was taking a slow and careful approach to loan posting:

Since January, SAT has exercised a great deal of caution with their borrower profile posting procedures. As a result, new profiles were not posted until April; since then, SAT has posted only five borrower profiles on the site, totaling $7,950 in loan volume.

Kiva believes that this slow and careful approach to loan posting is appropriate and healthy; one result, however, is that there hasn't been enough loans to do a borrower verification exercise involving 10 random borrower profiles. We hope to conduct this borrower verification in Q3 or Q4 of 2011, depending on SAT's ongoing posting levels.

SAT has continued to maintain a low level of posting, raising $5,750 in funds in May 2011, $3,675 in June 2011, and $4,100 in August 2011. These funds represent a total of eight loans, which is not enough to complete a borrower verification exercise with ten random borrower profiles.

Because of past issues with inconsistencies in the posting of SAT's borrower information to the Kiva website, we are requiring a successful borrower verification exercise before our staff moves forward with a subsequent visit to perform on-site due diligence. On-site due diligence is necessary for a partner to be labeled as having gone through our Full Due Diligence process; Kiva has been been working to complete on-site due diligence with its active field partners (with the exception of partners in countries that pose a security risk), as part of an effort to fully migrate these partners to a new and enhanced risk model.

However, because of the low posting levels previously described, Kiva has not yet been able to schedule and execute either the borrower verification exercise or the subsequent on-site visit required for for the re-rating process. Because the borrower verification exercise can not be completed at this time, Kiva has decided to temporarily indicate that SAT's current level of due diligence best reflects the Basic level of Due Diligence, as described here:

Kiva [allows] Field Partners [to] go through a more basic due diligence process. This involves an initial screen, an application process and review, desktop due diligence, and a written report and analysis. This basic due diligence process also includes an analysis of financial statements, information on Board and Management, references, and ratings (if available). ...

Field Partners that go through a basic due diligence process will not be given a risk rating, and the partner risk rating would show up as Non-Rated.

In order to resolve the uncertainty around a potential on-site visit and to complete the migration to its new and enhanced risk model, Kiva has contacted SAT about their planned fundraising levels. If SAT is not able to commit to a higher level of loan posting, then Kiva and SAT will work to close out the partnership. If SAT does commit to a higher level of fundraising however, Kiva staff will be able to schedule both its borrower verification exercise and the on-site due diligence required to collect the information necessary to migrate SAT to the new and enhanced risk model. At that time, SAT would once again be labeled as having gone through the Full Due Diligence process, and a risk rating would once again be calculated and published.

Update: June 24, 2011

In the partner page update from January 4, 2011, Kiva clarified that SAT had agreed to a further borrower verification exercise:

SAT has agreed to have a Kiva staff member or Kiva Fellow visit the organization in the first quarter of 2011 to conduct a borrower verification to check that all information on the website matches that on the ground.

Borrower verification entails interviewing a random sample of 10 Kiva borrowers from the same field partner to help ensure the information on the ground matches the information on Kiva’s website. To accomplish this, Kiva verifies the identity of the borrower, the disbursement date, the loan amount, the loan term, the loan usage and the repayment information. 

Since January, SAT has exercised a great deal of caution with their borrower profile posting procedures. As a result, new profiles were not posted until April; since then, SAT has posted only five borrower profiles on the site, totaling $7,950 in loan volume.

Kiva believes that this slow and careful approach to loan posting is appropriate and healthy; one result, however, is that there hasn't been enough loans to do a borrower verification exercise involving 10 random borrower profiles. We hope to conduct this borrower verification in Q3 or Q4 of 2011, depending on SAT's ongoing posting levels.

We will keep this page updated with further updates as information becomes available.

Update: January 4, 2011

In July 2010, Kiva paused Sinapi Aba Trust following the discovery of inconsistencies in the posting of borrower information to Kiva. Kiva shared these findings with SAT’s management who quickly undertook an internal investigation. A report from the internal investigation was shared with Kiva and Kiva staff subsequently visited to fully understand some of the explanations.

As a result of this episode, Kiva requested Sinapi Aba Trust to institute key changes to the way that their Kiva program worked which would build in more controls and provide easier identification of problems. The organization has made such changes to their Kiva manuals and has been permitted to begin fundraising again on Kiva as of 1 January 2011 up to $25,000 per month. SAT has agreed to have a Kiva staff member or Kiva Fellow visit the organization in the first quarter of 2011 to conduct a borrower verification to check that all information on the website matches that on the ground. Furthermore, any fundraising limit increases for SAT would be tied to successfully passing a borrower verification in order to ensure that the scale up of the Kiva program is successful and prudent. Sinapi Aba Trust’s management has reaffirmed their commitment to transparency on the Kiva website and is aware of the consequences of further problems.

Any updates that materially affect the risk or transparency of SAT on Kiva will be posted to the partner page in the future.

Status Update: July 23, 2010

On May 18, 2010, Kiva unpaused Sinapi Aba Trust after they had fulfilled two conditions. First, SAT had designed and begun implementing a new posting system that had stronger internal controls. And second, SAT agreed to undergo an onsite verification by a Kiva Fellow two months after posting resumed to help ensure that internal controls were working as planned.

After the two months had passed, the Kiva Fellow conducted an onsite verification process. During this process, she visited borrower groups in the field and did a paper review of loan profile forms completed by loan officers by comparing these paper forms against the data on the Kiva website. While completing this verification, the Fellow discovered inconsistencies in the information posted with some group loans on Kiva’s website.

We are currently working with SAT to better understand these inconsistencies. As part of this, SAT has launched an internal investigation of the problem. We will pause Sinapi Aba Trust until the uncertainty has been resolved.

An update will be posted here as we learn more.

Update: May 18, 2010

Sinapi Aba Trust has been unpaused and has resumed fundraising following onsite verification by Kiva Fellows of a well-controlled process to ensure the posting of accurate information to the Kiva website. SAT has appointed a head Kiva Coordinator responsible for ensuring data accuracy and Kiva believes, at present, that SAT's processes for using Kiva are considerably stronger than before.

Original Description

Sinapi Aba Trust (SAT) is a private, Christian and non-profit Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) which was established to support the poorest of the economically active poor to enhance their lives through microfinance and basic business training.

SAT’s mission is to serve as a Mustard Seed through which opportunities for enterprise development and income generation are given to the economically disadvantaged in society.

Since its establishment, SAT has accumulated tremendous experience and has distinguished itself as one of the best institutions in the industry. As of December 2010, the operations of the Trust now serves over 133,000 borrowers with 46 Branches in Ghana.

OBJECTIVES:

>To enable SAT to achieve its noble mission, the following key objectives have been established:

> To provide financial services or credit needs to small and micro business ventures;

> To contribute positively to poverty alleviation through micro-enterprise stimulation and job creation for increased income among the poor;

> To fill the vacuum created by the formal sector commercial banks and finance companies in administering credit and financial services to small and micro enterprise.

> To provide business management training to micro-entrepreneurs to enhance their gradual growth from the micro level to the macro level.

AREAS OF EXPERTISE: These come under five (5) main areas:

1) Microfinance-related subjects - best practices for loan appraisal, credit management, monitoring, delinquency management, calculation and use of financial indicators, corporate governance.

2) Impact assessment and monitoring, client satisfaction surveys, institutional evaluation of micro finance and micro-enterprise institutions.

3) Market research into what enterprises need and want in terms of products and services

4) Advisory services and best practices in key operational and management issues such as client retention, loan appraisal, credit and delinquency management, internal controls, best banking practices, investment and finance, accounting and management etc.

5) Product development and refinement e.g. loans and savings products, micro-leasing etc. Consequently, the institution has added on other areas of development into its operations. These include:

- Business transformational training programme: small and micro entrepreneurs are trained in basic business management covering such areas as accounting, marketing, finance, among others.

- HIV/AIDS and reproductive health: awareness creation and counseling services

- Youth apprenticeship programme: to reduce incidence and spread of STIs / HIV/AIDS and unemployment among the youth by providing them with employable skills.

- Community development: community leadership, resource mobilization, project planning and implementation techniques, team building, conflict resource, etc.