Michael Gavin Meehan, the South African corporate guru, has been reappointed the non executive director of the ailing Blue Financial Service  to try to steer it back after nearly 12 months of uncertainty.
The seasoned corporate guru will also take the chairmanship of the Blue audit committee as he tries to put the company in good shape.
The news about his re-appointment has been greeted with some confidence  as some of the lenders to the  financially troubled Pan African micro-lender opted to convert their loans to ordinary  in a bid  to save the  company from imminent collapse.
In┬á a cautionary┬á statement to┬á both┬á Johannesburg Securities Exchange and Botswana Stock ExchangeÔÇöwhere the company has primary and┬á secondary listing┬á respectivelyÔÇösaid┬á on Monday that it has┬á confirmation to convert┬á R266.5 million┬á (about P 255 million) of debt into equity in terms of┬á the early conversion.
“ In summary, Blue has received conversion notices in respect of an aggregate amount equal to R 266.5 million from existing lenders who are owed R 178.2 million, the┬á company said.
Blue Financial Service debt amounts to some R 325 million and its lenders┬á include the World Bank’s investment arm, International Finance Corporation, Ren Assets of South Africa, Absa, Dutch Development Bank and Pinebridge.
IFC has indicated that it will convert the  whole debt to the  tune of R 60.5 million to equity  and  RenAssets also agreed to convert the total principal amount of  R 44. 4 million under the early conversion scheme of arrangements.
Absa,┬áSouth Africa’s biggest commercial bank, indicated that it will convert the entire principal loan of┬á R 37.4 million while the Dutch Bank said┬á it would convert R 80 million┬á that is owed by Blue Financial Service.
 The pro-poor organization, with a raft of financial products, said its initiatives are aligned with the objectives of NEPAD (New Economic Partnership for Africa).
Blue has opened previously untapped markets in the financial sector by providing  financial solutions to those who previously were denied access to the market.
Blue’s model was based on the gap that was created by the traditional banking systems. Banks as a whole in the African environment are not as advanced electronically as their peers in other areas of the globe, and they are not addressing a broad range of the needs of their customers.
The Sub-Saharan banks are very risk averse and, as such, many employers are forced to become involved in providing housing to their staff or providing benefits or credit that their personnel cannot obtain elsewhere.
The provision of financial services in countries like Botswana, where close to 60 percent of the working people are said to be unbanked, is a critical factor as that population is shunned by the traditional banks.
The company is one of the major players in Botswana’s micro-finance with the other two major ones being the Botswana Stock Exchange listed Letshego Holdings and Penrich Employee Benefits and recently Baybridge. The company is already tapping on government’s liberalization policy, which is geared towards automatic deduction of salaries from source, which used to be tightly controlled.
Among some of the products provided by the company are home improvements, funeral insurance, salary advances, pension and provident funds, payroll solutions and cellular solutions.
It said one of the biggest markets that it is serving includes that of South Africa, which is littered with a number of players but with a risk averse attitude.
 The lenders, who are the  monied financial institutions, will get  Blue shares at 13 cents per share against the 110  cents at the time of its listing in early 2008.
Blue closed the day on Monday  flat at 30 thebe per share.
