By 
WOW Founder and Chief Executive Officer Mutale Kapaso has denied pocketing K5 million meant for 100 women in a Village Banking and Savings group.
Kapaso indicated that both her organisation and husband have not been explicitly named in the said article alleging that she stole a sum of K5 million meant for Village Banking.
She said in a statement issued in Lusaka on Tuesday that it was unfortunate that they have been tagged repeatedly on social media platforms.
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“It has come to our attention that there is a fabricated story circulating on social media alleging that 100 women from a village banking and savings initiative contributed a huge sum of money but never received their pay-out,” Kapaso said.
Responding to social media attacks, she said they have interrogated the contents of the social media publication and consider them to be false and a misrepresentation of facts.
“We totally feel unjustifiably injured and attacked by the said article and we are compelled to respond through this press statement in order to set the record straight.
“Having read the article, it bears a resemblance of a deliberate and calculated attack on our brand reputation and the works we have been doing in the public domain,” Kapaso said.
She denied having 100 women in the WOW village banking and saving initiative that are owed K5 million.
Kapaso claimed that as an initiative, they collectively agreed to wind down the group mid last year after successfully running them for three years.
She further claimed that about 93 percent of the participating women were fully paid in full plus their accrued interests, while the remaining seven percent opted to continue until the end of December 2022, stating that some of whom have also been cleared.
Kapaso said only four women are left to be fully settled.
She stated that the last 14 days between December 31, 2022 and now, have been dedicated to administrative works to clear the balances of the remaining participants amicably.
Kapaso was reacting to an article from Jacqueline Saidi Chishimba, who alleged that three of her female friends saved more than K100, 000 in a Village Banking Savings initiative.
Chishimba alleged that the initiative was run by a young Christian couple whose wife apparently was a big “Christian celebrity brand” in Zambia.
She claimed that a Christian celebrity advertised a Village Banking Savings initiative, recruited 100 members and promised eight percent return on savings plus a bonus on amounts above Fifty Thousand Kwacha.
She claimed that her brand was investing the funds in a Microfinance organisation and other Christian projects.
According to Chishimba, of the 100 women, the highest saving was K1 million from a group of 10 corporate executives.
She said 12 months later, the 100 women were eager to receive their savings plus interest, stating that on December 1, 2022, the Christian celebrity informed the group via WhatsApp that a share-out would take place on December 16, 2022.
“As the date approaches, she sends out another notice that share-out has been moved to December 31, 2022. Come December 31, 2022, everyone is told there is nothing to share-out because the investments were not profitable and the whole Five Million Kwacha saved has disappeared,” Chishimba said.
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