What is a Profit Payout?

Ownisha is a cooperative. It is owned by its members rather than by outside shareholders. In most financial businesses, profit left at the end of the year goes to shareholders. In a cooperative, it can instead be shared among the members who used the business.

A Profit Payout is that share. It is worked out from the profit remaining after Ownisha has paid all of its costs, expenses and tax, and after it has set aside the reserves it needs to remain solvent and to meet its obligations. If nothing is left, there is no Profit Payout.

A Profit Payout is not a savings product and it is not an investment. It is not a return on money you have deposited, and no rate applies to it.

Will I definitely receive a Profit Payout?

No.

A Profit Payout is discretionary. Each year the Board of Directors decides whether Ownisha is able to make a distribution, having assessed its financial position, its solvency and its obligations. The Board may decide that no distribution will be made. Members cannot require the Board to declare one.

We do not expect to pay a Profit Payout for the financial year ending 28 February 2027. Ownisha is a new business and is still building its operations. Members should join on the basis of what membership offers them now, and not on the expectation of receiving a Profit Payout in the near future.

We will not tell you in advance what your Profit Payout might be, because we cannot know. We will not give you an estimate or an example figure, because doing so could give you a false impression of what to expect.

Who can be considered for a Profit Payout?

To be considered, you need to be a member in good standing and to have bought qualifying products during the financial year.

A member in good standing means a member who:

• has been admitted to membership and holds a valid membership share;
• is not in arrears on any premium or loan repayment owed to an Ownisha entity; and
• has not been suspended or expelled from membership under the constitution.

Being eligible to be considered does not mean you will receive a payment. It means only that you will be included in the calculation if the Board declares a distribution.

How would my share be worked out?

If the Board declares a distribution, it is divided among qualifying members according to how much each member bought during the year, measured as a proportion of the total. This is called patronage.

In plain terms: if your qualifying purchases made up a given percentage of the total for all members, you would receive approximately that percentage of the amount distributed.

If you joined part-way through the financial year, only your purchases from the date you joined are counted.

You will be told how your share was calculated. You may also raise questions about the calculation at the Annual General Meeting, where the Board and management will answer them.

How would I be paid?

A Profit Payout is not paid into your bank account at another bank.

It is paid into your Ownisha member savings account, which is held with Ownisha’s co-operative financial institution. This is set out in the constitution and cannot be changed by the directors on their own.

This means that if you are not a member of the Ownisha co-operative financial institution, you cannot receive a Profit Payout.

Payments, if any, are made after the Annual General Meeting.

Should I buy more products to increase my Profit Payout?

No. Please do not do that.

Your share of any distribution depends partly on what you bought, but a larger share of nothing is still nothing, and there may be no distribution at all.

Only take out a product that suits your needs and that you can afford to keep paying for. Before we sell you an insurance or credit product, we will assess whether it is appropriate for your circumstances, and we will tell you if we do not think it is. Cancelling a policy you could not afford, or falling behind on a loan, will cost you more than any Profit Payout is likely to be worth.

If anyone representing Ownisha suggests you buy a product in order to increase a Profit Payout, please report it to us using the contact details below.

Questions or complaints

If anything on this page is unclear, or if you believe you have been given a misleading impression of the Profit Payout, please contact us at complaints@ownisha.co.za