Engaging the financially excluded market – how private equity can be an architect for inclusion

A 2023 BrandMapp survey estimates that over 13 million individuals in South Africa earn between R22,000 and R40,000 per month. They are digitally savvy and economically active, with over 80% making use of savings or investments (BrandMapp 2025) but are often excluded from tailored financial advice that aligns with their personal circumstances and ambitions. For individuals earning below R22,000 per month, access to tailored financial planning and advice is almost non-existent.

For financial product providers, intermediaries, and institutional investors, the scale and latent demand within South Africa’s lower-to-middle income segment present a structurally significant growth opportunity. The FSCA’s Financial Sector Outlook Study (2022) confirms that while , reflecting a persistent mismatch between product access and effective financial engagement.

The commercial challenge—and opportunity—therefore lies in engineering scalable distribution and advisory infrastructure that integrates digital delivery with trust-based engagement, enabling inclusive participation without compromising profitability. For investors, this represents a frontier market dynamic: large addressable demand constrained not by capital scarcity, but by the absence of interoperable, impact-aligned systems capable of converting financial access into sustained financial wellbeing.

Alongside financial product providers, intermediaries and advisors, investors globally, such as private equity firms, have also identified the potential that this underserved market segment represents – a unique opportunity to meet a critical social need, in a financially sustainable manner.

What do PE firms look for when evaluating such solutions?

Nthabiseng Thema, Partner at Summit Private Equity, notes that a Southern Africa-focused private equity impact investor would typically apply the following filters when evaluating companies building solutions for this underserved market:

• Problem relevance: Is the venture solving a systemic issue - such as access to financial planning - not just a market inefficiency? Investors want the systemic issue addressed, not the product. Frame your business as a response to that issue.

• Scalability: Can the model grow without diluting its core value proposition? Is technology used to extend reach while maintaining quality? Technology should enable reach, but the model must deliver consistent value at every level.

• Execution discipline: Does the founding team combine lived experience with operational rigour? Are they solving from within the problem, not from above it? Scaling impact often requires navigating pricing, access, and margin tensions. Investors respect founders who manage these openly.

• Outcome orientation: Is success measured in tangible improvements - such as debt reduction, business formation, or asset ownership - rather than vanity metrics? Investors are increasingly rigorous. Be prepared to report on both financial performance and social outcomes. To show how solutions improve lives or livelihoods - not just how many users are acquired.

These criteria help distinguish ventures with real commercial and impact potential from those that simply market well.

A case in point: Lifecheq

In 2024, Summit Africa, through its Summit Private Equity Fund, invested R160m of growth equity capital in Lifecheq, a fintech platform offering personalised financial planning, emerged from a simple but telling insight: most lower-to-middle-income South Africans are sold products, not solutions. The founding team - actuaries and former insurance executives - built a model that starts with the individual’s financial goals and works backward to design a financial roadmap.

Initially serving clients one-on-one, the business scaled by embedding its methodology into partner ecosystems, including insurers and advisory networks. Today, it enables thousands of ordinary individuals to make informed decisions about debt, savings, career moves, and family support.

The new capital is being used to support Lifecheq’s planned growth to emerging markets in the rest of Africa and Asia, where financial product providers, financial intermediaries and financial advisers are seeking solution-oriented approaches to client acquisition and retention. With this investment, Summit Private Equity joined a list of other shareholders in Lifecheq such as Naspers Foundry, Futuregrowth, African Rainbow Capital and VestedWorld (a US venture capital fund).

Conclusion

South Africa does not need more financial products — it needs financial architecture designed for dignity, resilience, and generational progress.

Lifecheq’s success illustrates what Summit Private Equity and other global investors are seeking: ventures that combine founder commitment, commercial viability, and structural relevance.

In a tough and uncertain investment environment, companies that tap into real, often overlooked demand, build strong trust with their customers, and attract talent and partnerships that traditional models often cannot are the ones that will help reshape the economy from the ground up.

¹ South African Reserve Bank (SARB), Financial Stability Review and financial sector balance sheet statistics.