Tuesday May 20 - Cape Town
In Cape Town, Queen Máxima will visit three companies that contribute to financial health. In a township, she will speak to residents about their participation in a stokvel. This is an informal savings or credit association that is particularly popular among low-income communities. Members periodically deposit money for a savings goal.
Through cooperation with Nedbank, they also gain access to other financial products and funeral insurance. Many South African households get into trouble due to high funeral costs. The stokvel principle also works well for small-scale entrepreneurship. Queen Máxima meets an entrepreneur whose financial health has improved thanks to Spoon Money. This fintech links a loan to a savings program for low-risk investments. Finally, she will visit Discovery Vitality, an organization that specializes in scientific analyses and behavioral change. Among other things, it offers financial products that use nudging, a motivational technique for desired behavior, to help people make responsible financial choices.
Wednesday May 21 - Johannesburg
In Johannesburg, Queen Máxima, as honorary chair of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion, will participate in a fireside chat of the G20 Responsible Finance Forum with Michael Schlein, CEO of Accion, and a roundtable discussion of Mastercard. At Deloitte, she will talk to large employer organizations about what they can do for the financial health of their employees. Financial stress leads to many problems, such as illness and lower labor productivity. In the conversation, Queen Máxima will share her experiences with the Dutch National Coalition for Financial Health (NCFG), which was set up on her initiative by SchuldenlabNL, Deloitte and ING Netherlands. More than fifty employers within the NCFG will share knowledge about helping employees with financial problems and measuring financial health.
Thursday May 22 - Cape Town
On the final day, a meeting with international financial development organizations is on the agenda and Queen Máxima will speak with the Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana. Earlier, she spoke in Washington during the Spring Meeting of the IMF and the World Bank with the Governor of the South African Reserve Bank, Lesetja Kganyago.
Queen Máxima
visited South Africa in 2011 on behalf of the UN for financial inclusion. In 2021, she had an
online conversation with President Ramaphosa in his role as former chair of the African Union about financial inclusion for women on the African continent.
- photos from Cape Town today, May 20:
