Committee observations . Siqalumnotho is the only financial services cooperative (FSC) in the Newcastle region. . Current services provided for Siqalumnotho FSC only includes savings. The aim is to extend the services to loans as well. . Samaf provided the FSC with a R200 000 on-lending and capacity building loan. The R200 000 was utilized for operations (e.g. securing offices, equipment etc.) . A concern of the committee is the fact that Samaf will provide further funding to the FSC once more savings have been mobilised (which will be used as a criteria for the grant). If the FSC does "not prove itself", it may not receive further funding from Samaf. . A provincial forum, consisting of the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA), Samaf and the Provincial Department of Economic Development was started, but no further development materialised after this. . The FSC is running the risk of non-payment of its loan from Samaf. . The FSC struggled to secure proper offices (they had a mobile office). Efforts to secure property from the local municipality were unsuccessful. . Challenges of the FSC include: operations and marketing