By BONIFACE MULU
Cooperatives provide education and training for their members, elected representatives, managers and employees so that they can contribute effectively to the development of their cooperatives.
“This is the fifth cooperative principle as published by the International Cooperative Alliance-Education, Training and Information,” the Kitui Teachers Savings and Credit Cooperative Society Limited Chairman, Reverend Augustus Munuve further said.
The cooperator said the member education can help secure an active and informed membership and ensure that the elected representatives and leaders are the ones who share their vision and aspirations for the success of their cooperative and have the necessary skills to carry out their responsibilities, he added.
Munuve was speaking to the Kitui Teachers Savings and Credit Cooperative Society’s members during this year’s their society’s education and information day held at the Kitui Central Primary School in Kitui Town where he was the chief guest at the event.
The sacco leader said their sacco requires the acceptance of new ideas, new standards, new habits of thoughts and behaviours in its own interest and for its own survival. “This should be supported by the continuous education of its members,” Munuve said.
He said educating the members to understand their roles correctly inspire them to fulfill their responsibilities as members. And he added that the education encourages the member participation on their sacco issues which has become key for the sacco development.
The cooperator said the active members participation is crucial for the sustainability of the savings and credit cooperative societies. He told the members:
“Encourage your friends, family members and colleagues to become the sacco’s members. You can offer to introduce them to the sacco, explain its benefits and services and help them through the membership process.”
“We should make the commitment because in the first place the sacco is our own financial institution, the members can raise concerns and look at the options to solve them by their own participation and the interest we pay as members comes back to us as a dividend based on the capital participation, but the competitors may never do this,”
The Kitui Teachers Savings and Credit Cooperative Society Limited Chairman went on. According to him, the sacco is offering incentives such as the referral bonuses for every new member that joins through the influencer’s referral link.
“We are encouraging our members to continue marketing the sacco through referrals. If the sacco grows, we grow together. The sacco membership is open to all the potential individuals and not limited to the salaried people. It extends to the business people, micro-credit and welfare groups,” Munuve said.
“It is good to appreciate that the sacco is doing well and growing fast. The sacco has developed more products and services to suit our customer needs,” the sacco leader also said. Our member portal is also operational and members can use it to view their account information like the salary and loan statements, he said.
Munuve talked about the unclaimed financial assets. “The Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority (UFAA) was created to administer the unclaimed financial assets with a primary mandate to receive the unclaimed financial assets from the holders of such assets, safeguard and re-unite the assets with their rightful owners,” the sacco leader said.
We want to take the opportunity to inform our members that the sacco is very stable and giving good services and returns to our members, the cooperator said. “We appreciate the Kitui Teachers Sacco members for continuously embracing the society as their financial services provider. Together we make a difference. Happy 2023 members education and information day,” Munuve said.
