NAIROBI, Kenya–This country’s robust credit union community, known as Savings and Credit Co-operative Societies, or Saccos, hosted representatives from 16 credit unions in Ghana as part of an exchange on how to improve CUs in that country.
The Ghana credit union’ delegation was led by Dr. Bernard B. B. Bingab, president and the board chair of Ghana Cooperative Credit Union Association, according to Kenyan News.
Bingab said the success of Kenyan Saccos would inform change in his country’s policies so as to scale up the success ladder like Kenya.
Speaking at the ceremony hosted by Kericho’s Imarisha Sacco Society Limited, Bingab said the delegation had learned good leadership was vital for successful running of a credit union, which he observed was the case with Kenyan Saccos, Kenyan News reported.
The ‘Right Leadership’
“For instance, Imarisha Sacco has proven to us that the right leadership is vital in running a Sacco,” Bingab said. “They are making the right decisions and have the welfare of their members at heart. That is why the membership is growing exponentially.”
According to Kenyan News, Sacco membership in Ghana was at one-million, which was far below the level in Kenya where millions are registered members of various Saccos.
“We have realized that there is so much to learn from these benchmarking programs. We will be conducting such meetings at-least every year so that we can exchange ideas and implement them in our various credit unions,” added Bingab.
Growing Every Day
Matthew Ruto, chairman of Imarisha Sacco Society, said the Sacco movement in Kenya has been growing fast and getting stronger by the day, telling the publication it was vital to share ideas with other countries in order to get even better.
“We have learnt that Saccos are the same. How they operate in their country is the same as we do in this country, offering credit to their members and also the policies are not very different from ours, so we are on the right track,” Kenyan News quoted Ruto as saying.