There are plenty of great examples of impact investing in action in Aotearoa New Zealand. Previous case studies have shown how impact investing principles are being applied, as this helps investors to take action and make more impactful investments.
This time we're focusing on a company that has made a significant social impact through supporting 500 families, and is seeking extra funding to continue their vital work and encourage the industry to look at debt differently.
We recently hosted Sasha Lockley (Money Sweetspot Co-founder and CEO) and Rig Chapman (Money Sweetspot Co-founder and CRO) as guest speakers for our March impact investment lunch. Below is what they shared with us.
Thank you to Sasha and Rig for sharing your story. Our aim at the Impact Investing Network is to educate and connect the Impact Investing sector in Aotearoa, so we can channel capital towards innovative companies like Money Sweetspot in order to make a positive impact in Aotearoa and globally.
To set the scene, in Aotearoa:
480,000 people are behind on their loan repayments, with interest rates often between 28% and 50%.
22,000 people are behind in their mortgage repayments.
What the finance industry often forgets is that behind those numbers… are people.
Money Sweetspot is an Aotearoa New Zealand-based social-impact finance company — they provide financial reset debt consolidation loans to help people take charge of their financial life, reduce debts and get on with living.
They fundamentally believe that people are inherently good, but that unpredictable things happen to good people.
Most importantly, Money Sweetspot recognise the mana of the people behind their debt. They listen to their story. They provide educational resources to end debt spirals. They incorporate community donations into people’s journey out of debt. If Money Sweetspot is not right for someone, Sasha and her team will still help, by providing access to their financial education platform, a snapshot of their financial situation, and refers them to other community partners — all for free.
While traditional lenders hold on to their high interest paying customers, Money Sweetspot aims to lose their customers as they are enabled to pay off their debt.
Money Sweetspot has provided over $11.3 million in financial resets to 500 families — families who felt stuck paying loan interest rates of up to 50%, now only paying an average of 14%.
By staying on track with their financial resets those families have also donated $20,000 to causes they care about, and earned an additional $11,000 off their loans by engaging with financial education.
The biggest success, Sasha says, is seeing other mainstream institutions and providers look at how they can adopt Money Sweetspot’s model.
How did Money Sweetspot begin?
Unpredictable financial difficulty is very personal to Sasha. Sasha grew up in Stafford, a small town in the UK. Her Dad started a successful bus company, however, after his own father lost his life, he found himself working in the family farm. He could no longer look after the bus company, so it fell into financial difficulty. Sasha remembers the impact this had on her family, including the constant fear of the next debt collector visit. Sasha’s Mum was a strong and motivated woman, who would always find a way to support her family. Unfortunately, her Mum passed away from alcoholism.
Sasha describes her family as good people that had unpredictable bad things happen to them. Unfortunately, those bad things defined her family’s lives rather than being something that could be worked through, and out of.
Unpredictable things happen to good people.
Sasha eventually found herself working in finance — working for the Serious Fraud Office, before working as Head of Operations for a large New Zealand finance company. She felt that financial services judged people for the unpredictability of life and placed no value on their stories. She imagined a place where the human-ness was brought back to the centre.
Money Sweetspot is that “sweetspot” where people’s stories are listened to, their mana recognised, education supported and their likelihood of repaying debt dramatically increased.
What’s next for Money Sweetspot?
Money Sweetspot is seeking funding to continue the hugely impactful work Sasha, Rig and their team are doing. The funding will be used to provide financial reset loans to Kiwi committed to getting out of debt. They have the support of the Tindall Foundation, Christian Savings, The Good Registry, BNZ, Anglican Care and Soul Capital. Are you next?
Below are the slides Sasha shared with us, with further information on their plans, stories of people they have supported, and more.
Let us know if you’d like to be connected with Sasha, or you can find her LinkedIn here.
(Presentation reference: Money Sweetspot — presented during Impact Investing Network Impact Lunch March 2024)
Interested in reading more?
You can find Money Sweetspot's website here.
Read about why Soul Capital provided loan refinancing to Money Sweetspot.
Disclaimer: This article is not, and must not be treated as, investment advice, investment recommendations, or investment research. Readers this article must not take (or refrain from taking) any investment decision on the basis of the information set out in this document or at this event. Before making any investment decision, you should seek independent investment, legal, tax, accounting or other professional advice as appropriate. In making an investment decision, recipients must rely on their own examination of an investment and make an independent determination of whether the interests meet their investment objectives and risk tolerance level.
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