The Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies (Saccos) countrywide have been urged to innovate in the face of the changing business environment in order to meet the growing needs of their customers.

The CIC Insurance and Investment Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Patrick Nyaga, also rooted for mechanisation of the Sacoo services, saying it will bring efficiency and more value to them and their clientele.

Nyaga noted that Saccos were facing a lot of challenges, such as the shrinking economy and competition from other service providers, hence the need to modernise and look for ways of staying ahead of the competition and the economic challenges facing the country, which in turn will bring profitability to their organisations.

Nyaga was speaking in Naivasha Monday during this year`s meeting with CEOs of over 200 Saccos, which have been insured with CIC insurance and are also shareholders in the company.

The company organises the annual Sacco CEOs Forum as part of its stakeholder engagement.

The CIC Group CEO said the insurer recognises the need to foster and maintain meaningful relationships with their stakeholders and affirms its commitment to help them handle risks.

‘The purpose of the forum is to impart Saccos with the necessary strategic and business management skills to ensure sustainable growth, especially in these difficult economic times.

‘We intend to use the two days to focus on the achievement of sustainable growth and profitability in Saccos in turbulent micro-economic times, and the key discussion will be on the Golden Circle perspective to business development, brand positioning, and building customer loyalty,’ Nyaga said.

He further noted that CIC Insurance plays an important role in educating co-operative leaders and managers on risk management and corporate governance in their institutions.

National Police DT Sacco CEO Solomon Angutsa Atsiaya said in these economically perilous times, the Sacco Shareholders are seeking to reduce risks to the minimum, and CIC Insurance has given them optimal solutions towards risk management.

‘We are looking at how to build more capacity for our members, which will in turn help us harness more business in the face of competition,’ he said, adding that as risk increases, more cover is needed so that Saccos don’t go down.

Safaricom Sacco CEO Joseph Njoroge, on his part, said they want to have a mind shift in order to be more customer-focused as a way of beating competition and remaining relevant in the market, noting that Saccos were going through unique challenges depending on the environment they were operating in.

Egerton University Sacco CEO Jane Kaimuri said business on their part has been going through turbulence as most of their members, who are employees of Egerton University, have been receiving only 60 per cent of their salaries, making the loan default rate stand at between 40 to 45 per cent.

‘We have had to readjust the loan repayment period for the members and are now looking at creating more value for customers, and we are also training them on how to venture into other sources of income, but we are positive that things will change in the next few months,’ she said.

Meru Dairy Union CEO Kennedy Gitonga said CIC has helped his organisation, which produces the Mount Kenya milk brand, insure the dairy animals in order to avoid uncertainties.

Currently, there are over 14,000 registered cooperative societies, of which 5,000 are SACCOs. Co-operatives have mobilised domestic savings to the tune of about Sh400 billion, accounting for 33 per cent of the national savings, and are major drivers of the economy.

The Kenya National Police DT Sacco was registered on November 20, 1972, with a membership of 690 and has grown to the current membership of 71,000 with an asset base of Sh48.7 billion, a loan portfolio of Sh41 billion, and a total deposit of Sh29 billion, making it one of the giant Saccos in the country.

The society’s annual revenue grew to Sh7.9 billion in 2022 compared to Sh7 billion in the preceding year, representing a 12.9 per cent growth, thus cementing their place as key pillars of Kenya’s saving culture.

Source: Kenya News Agency