
SACCO GOES REGIONAL
Proceedings of the 46th AGM for the Ollin Sacco going on at the Kutus primary school grounds over the weekend
A Sacco in Kirinyaga County has expanded its operations regionally after opening branches in Nairobi,Kajiado and Kitengela Counties .
Ollin Sacco which was started in 1976 as Mugigia Sacco with only a membership only 163 at inception while the membership currently stands at 20,000.
After opening its doors for business at the time , it was primarily a teachers organisation until several years ago when the Sacco policies in the countries were changed to accommodate anyone willing to join.
Its Chairman Albert Kamau while addressing the members during its 46Th Annual General meeting at the Kutus Primary school over the weekend said the Sacco was headed national.
“Since we have membership in Nairobi, Kajiado and Kitengela which are cosmopolitan in nature especially Nairobi which is the seat of the national government what will prevent us from venturing in Mombasa , Nakuru , Kisumu and Eldoret ,which are equally densely populated and ready for our services ,?” the official posed .
A fleet of brandy new vehicles the Ollin sacco has purchased to enable it's staffers to cris cross the rough terrain as they served their customers in and out of Kirinyaga County to the diaspora
The expansion, the official added was informed after a thorough feasibility studies to determine their viability.
Added the official “ this therefore informs that there would be indelible foot prints of the Ollin Sacco across the nation ,”.
He said despite the harsh economic hardships which had been caused by the outbreak of the Covid 19 pandemic, coupled by the prevailing draught the Sacco had still somewhat managed to post positive growth of all its key parameters besides meeting the member’s needs.
During the day long AGM , the members approved the Sacco borrowing power to sh 800 million and Sh 3 million honorarium for its Board of Directors for the next financial year.
At the same time the Sacco Assets have grown to Sh 8.1 last year down from Sh 7 billion in the year 2021,while liabilities rose to sh 6.8 billion last year up from Sh5.8 billion the previous year .
The official put the total liabilities and equity at Sh 8.1 billion last year and Sh 7.0 billion the previous year.
Ollin Sacco top officials gifting the Chief guest at the 46th AGM Richard Nyakenogo with a state of the arts luxurious chair at Kutus primary school grounds over the weekend
The AGM attendance was a record breaking after about 8000 plus members turned and exhausted all the souvenirs the organisers had set aside , but not without a smile on their face after divided on shares were declared and paid out at 17 per cent and at 12.1 per cent on deposit.
The CECM for Cooperative Development, Trade , Tourism , Marketing ,Industrialization and Enterprise Development Calbert Njeru was among the key guests to graced the occasion charaterised by scorching sun which the members braved .
Sacco CEO John Githiga defended the high number of female employees within the organisation and attributed the trend to their strict discipline and committed to their duty unlike their male counterparts.
He said incidents had arisen where male managers failed to open their branch offices due to misconduct associated with drankardness and other social evils that leads to breakdowns without notice as members suffered .
“Once a male employee is entangled in his personal and private life at the expense of service to our esteemed members , the only option available is to fire that particular individual for failing to observe due diligence in his duty and replace him with a committed one ,,”the CEO said.
The official was reacting to an observation by a member Ngari Njanja to the effect that the Sacco had 47 female officers against 35 of their male counterparts last year.
At the same time the Sacco membership growth is set to rise to over 40,000 by year 2025 while the asset base is projected to be at Sh 15 billion up from the current Sh 8 billion.