FAQ
Find answers to common questions about Five Talents’ work, donations, partnerships, and how you can support sustainable change in Africa.
What is savings-led microfinance and why do you do it?
We don’t! At Five Talents, we’ve moved away from traditional microfinance. While we once ran both credit and savings based models, we found far greater impact through community led savings groups combined with tailored training.
In countries like Kenya and Burundi, independent evaluations showed striking results: 82% of our members increased household spending, and 88% grew household assets - without any external loan capital. These groups pool their own savings, make small loans to each other, and invest in micro-enterprises, building financial resilience from the ground up.
Our model is cost effective, low risk and sustainable. After 3-4 years of support (including business skills, literacy, and financial training) groups continue independently, harnessing the power of what they have to build sustainable futures.
If you're looking to support enterprise and financial inclusion in fragile communities, this model delivers measurable, lasting results.
How do you assess the difference you are making?
Impact goes beyond numbers: it’s about real, lasting change in people’s lives. We use a robust mix of financial and social data to track how your investment drives progress.
Financially, we monitor growth in membership, savings, loan activity, repayment rates and partner sustainability through detailed reports. This ensures strong local partnerships that deliver results.
More importantly, we work with communities to define meaningful measures of change: whether it’s improved literacy, stronger women’s financial leadership, or community health advances.
The most compelling evidence comes from the members themselves—their stories of transformation are the true measure of success. This comprehensive approach means your support generates both tangible returns and profound social impact. You can read more of these on our individual country pages.
How Christian are you?
We are the Anglican Church’s microfinance charity, founded as a Christian response to global poverty. We celebrate our Christian faith and foundations, whilst honouring and working alongside those of all faiths and none. Our strong partnership with the Anglican church network offers a trusted local presence and infrastructure, especially in remote rural areas where the church is at the heart of the local community.
While faith inspires our work and underpins our collaboration with local partners, Five Talents programmes are sharply focused on empowering women and communities. This trusted platform enables us to deliver sustainable, inclusive impact at scale.
How are local partners chosen?
Strategic Partnerships for Sustainable Impact
Being community led sits at the heart of our work. That is why before we begin any new programme, it is preceded by an exploration with, and invitation from, our potential partners. Our partner selection process is highly rigorous: assessing vision alignment, community needs, competitive landscape, operational capacity, governance, and trusted local church networks.
While invitations to expand into new countries are frequent, launching new ventures requires significant investment and risk. To maximise the effectiveness and longevity of your support, we are deliberately focused on scaling proven programmes through established partners across new regions within the countries where we already operate.
This disciplined approach ensures your investment drives meaningful, sustainable change with measured risk and maximised impact - and is led by the communities themselves.
Savings-led Loans: By the community, for the community
Loan funds come directly from the pooled savings of group members, so loan amounts vary based on the collective capital available and the agreed terms of the individual groups.
Typically, groups begin by allowing members to borrow up to twice their personal savings, increasing to three times as the group matures and trust builds.
Initial savings group loans may be as modest as £15 - enabling a member to stock a small shop or purchase seed ahead of planting season. Over time, as the communal fund grows and business needs expand, loans can reach several hundred pounds, supporting sustainable enterprise growth.
What sort of training do you do?
Empowering Entrepreneurs Through Integrated Community Support
Providing access to savings and loans is just the beginning. Our programmes are built on a foundation of financial literacy and business training tailored to each community’s needs.
In regions affected by conflict and low literacy - such as Karamoja, South Sudan, Burundi, and DR Congo - we incorporate literacy, numeracy and trauma counselling to remove barriers to participation.
By leveraging experienced local partners alongside the Anglican Church, we create a cost-efficient platform for lasting impact. Each savings group receives comprehensive training in financial management, business skills, and market diversification—equipping entrepreneurs to grow resilient, sustainable enterprises.
This integrated approach ensures your investment drives scalable, transformative change in fragile communities.