plus-bee

It's great that you are interested in our initiative to give small self-employed people in South Africa access to finance! We have called this initiative Plus-Bee.

Plus-bee is a young company focused on financing the smallest but also the most important entrepreneurs in the world. With a few clicks you can finance these entrepreneurs via this app. With your micro investment you realize a macro difference for these entrepreneurs!

We are
Plus-bee was founded by Léon van der Meer, who has many years of experience in the (agricultural) finance world and has worked in several development projects. He sees a lot of room for improvement there, hence this initiative. Jacob is the (first) contact person in South Africa for finding and verifying entrepreneurs with a financing question.

What are we doing
In collaboration with local partners, the chain is kept as short as possible in order to keep costs as low as possible and to ensure that your full financing benefits the entrepreneurs. Without physical offices, a financing request and implementation are fully digital, so that costs and risks are avoided as much as possible.

How does it work?
01 Inquiry
An entrepreneur requests financing from us via a video pitch.

02 Verification
My contact person in South Africa (Jacob) verifies this person and agrees the conditions with the applicant and explains what we expect from the applicant.

03 Platform
We will then post the video on this platform with a brief explanation of the conditions and agreements. It is then up to you to assess what you think about it and whether you want to finance this person (partially or otherwise).

04 Provision
As soon as a financing request has been completed, we ensure that the money is sent to South Africa and we ensure that the money is spent on the right purpose. We often pay the supplier of our applicant.

05 Updates
When a loan has been granted, we will continue to inform you periodically about the progress with text, photo or video. You will also hear this when a (partial) refund has been made.

06 Refund
As soon as the full repayment has taken place, we will return the amount to the Netherlands and pay the amount to the investor(s) with 3% interest. The applicant then qualifies for a new loan on (even) more favorable conditions; good behavior is rewarded!

Risks
Keep an eye on! You invest outside the supervision of the AFM and there are certainly risks involved!

Despite verification, it can happen that someone has not applied for financing in good faith and 'disappears' or does not WANT to repay. We do everything we can to prevent this: for example because we know where someone lives, whether he/she is emotionally or economically connected to the environment where he/she lives, to provide securities, etc. to request.

There is also a chance that one CANNOT repay due to unforeseen circumstances; think of climatic conditions or theft. Keep in mind that the circumstances are often much more primitive than with us in the Netherlands. If this is the case, one can make a new request; again as 1st loan.

Exchange rate fluctuations: at the time of granting the loan and repayment, the amount is converted from EUR to the South African Rand (ZAR); this exchange rate may differ between purchase (provision) and sale (repayment). Both a positive and a negative effect of this exchange rate will affect the amount ultimately repaid to you.

So only invest with money you can afford to lose!