Since the advent of Covid 19 the world has been engulfed in uncertainty when it comes to finances and employment. Companies either have to retrench their workers or adopt a new hybrid model that enables employees to work from home. What are the odds of starting your own company after being unemployed for only 4 months? Resilience and tenacity are two words that describe, 32-year-old, Debt Counsellor Kuhle Malinga who is a co-founder of Mpokuhle Investments.
A portmanteau of Kuhle’s first name and his partner’s surname, Ntethelelo Mpohlo, Mpokuhle Investments is determined to alleviate debt and leave a lasting impression on their clients. “We’re transparent with our clients and we’re in this business to help them get out of debt more than anything else”, he explains. This passion stems from assisting former clients who were drowning in debt and were seemingly being exploited by their credit providers.
Having started his debt counselling journey as a consultant at Octogen Kuhle’s ambition grew when he noticed how his skills were instrumental in acquiring clients and accumulating profits for the company. “(I thought to myself) we’re making too much money for this company why can’t we do the same thing for ourselves?” he reminisces. That opportunity finally came on 29 May 2020 when the company was forced to let him go after being employed for two years. Mpokuhle Investments was established on 11 September 2020 and initially functioned as an independent contractor under Core Reflexions before acquiring their own Debt Counsellor Code and branching out.
When asked about his company’s uniqueness and what makes them stand out he mentions how they go out of their way to find a reasonable repayment rate that their client feels comfortable with before negotiating with the credit provider and reaching an agreement. “Say, for example, you have a monthly installment of R8000 and your monthly salary is R10 000. You’re over indebted. What we’ll do is negotiate with your credit provider to reduce your installment by 50% as well as your interest”, he elaborates. He goes on to say, “We basically decrease the payment you make towards your debt.”
With the time frame having already been set by the credit provider, as per their contractual agreement, the client however would have to brace themselves for making reduced payments over an extended period. “We will try by all means to stick to the client’s contractual time frame after going under debt counselling but this is usually determined by the payment structure we put in place”, he explains. Working from the comfort of his own home in Ladysmith it certainly appears that the pandemic and subsequent retrenchment were a blessing in disguise.
