Uasin Gishu County Enterprise Development Fund Committee has disbursed Sh13 million out of the Sh19 million approved to loan various Cooperative Societies this Financial Year.
The funds will be loaned out to cooperatives that applied for the loan to boost their enterprises, according to the county chief officer for Cooperatives and Enterprise Development, Ruth Samoei.
Ms. Samoei said her department will work on mechanisms for enhancing the fund in the coming years so that it can benefit more societies.
She made the remarks while scrutinising and approving CEDF loan application documents for Cooperatives that met the threshold.
The County Enterprise Development Fund (CEDF) committee chair, Philip Mamet, noted on his part that the county, through the Department of Cooperatives, has made the fund accessible, affordable, and available for the societies.
He maintained that it was vital for the societies to put the approved funds into use, calling on them to adopt swift models for repayment for other societies to also benefit, and challenged the committee members to work on strengthening the Fund to make it more sustainable.
The committee also discussed modalities for countering the late repayment of societies dues by the processors, which is said to be the highest contributing factor to late repayments of county loans by the cooperative societies.
CEDF Director Kipleting Mengich and his counterpart for Trade, Isaac Laga, called on the societies that did not qualify to ensure they followed all the set guidelines on compliance issues for them to benefit.
“We are continuously looking at other avenues that would see this fund become more effective and efficient in its business process going forward for our residents to access it better and be able to grow their ventures for economic growth,” reiterated Mengich.
He lauded the Committee for the success of the fund, saying their support, dedication, and the foundation they laid have seen the fund grow from lending Sh20 million to more than Sh700 million currently.
Societies that depicted easy and traceable records of cash flow, the status of their loan repayment, and a clear purpose for loan application were approved with fewer objections.
Farmer-based societies, boda boda, and matatu Saccos are the sectors that applied for the funds that are given out at 8% and 5% interest annually.
By Kiptanui Cherono
