The Sauti Cooperative Society (SACCO) has launched an aggressive recruitment drive to boost membership, which has drastically dwindled due to the massive retirement of civil servants who form the bulk of shareholders.
The Sacco Chairman, Elly Ndwiga, expressed fears that the general membership was currently below the set targets, prompting the urgency to formulate a marketing department to raise member numbers by targeting the youthful employees.
He said the Sacco also intends to diversify recruitment to include both the private and informal sectors as well as retention of retirees for the uptake of various products on offer.
Ndwiga also assured members that the society was opening up avenues to exploit her products by introducing collaterals to complement requirements for guarantors, which has been a major impediment to loan seekers in the jua kali sectors.
He was optimistic that the Sacco was headed in the right direction as uptake of loans by members increased by almost Ksh30 million over the last one year due to the extension of repayment periods of development and super normal loans from four to five year’s.
The Sacco chairman told the 48th annual delegates meeting at a Nairobi hotel that plans were underway to further extend the repayment period of supernormal loans up to six years to encourage uptake of loans, which at the moment was far below projected figures.
During the meeting, Nairobi Cooperative Chief Officer George Mutiso urged the boards of SACCOs to ensure that servant leadership was the cornerstone of their administrative virtues.
He stressed that prudent management of the society’s affairs must be observed at all times, especially at this time when Kenyans were going through hard economic times and could hardly afford loans.
Mutiso advised the SACCOs that are gearing towards opening a FOSA to ensure that their members were able to access everything they can do in a bank.
Dolphin Aremo, Director of Cooperatives, said that currently the country has around 176 deposit-taking SACCOs, with Nairobi commanding 47.
She explained that in 2023 the SACCOs mobilized 640 billion in terms of assets but are currently collecting data for 2024. “We are very optimistic there will be plenty of growth.
During the meeting, the delegates approved a payout of dividends at a rate of 10 percent on shares and a payout of 6 percent on deposits.
By Wangari Ndirangu
