UPDF’S WAZALENDO SACCO AWARDED FOR SUPPORTING THE GROWTH OF UGANDA COOPERATIVE SAVINGS AND CREDIT UNION (UCSCU)

24th November 2022

 

The Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces’ Wazalendo Savings and Credit Cooperative Society (WSACCO) has been recognized and awarded for it’s contribution towards the growth of UCSCU. WSACCO was recognized during UCSCU’s 7th Annual National SACCOs Conference held at Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala on 24th November 2022. WSACCO was presented with the award during UCSCU’s 47th Annual General Meeting held at it’s Headquarters in Maganjo in Nansana Municipality, Wakiso District on 25 November 2022.

 

While giving a keynote address at the conference, the Deputy Governor Bank of Uganda (BOU) Mr Micheal Atingi Ego congratulated Uganda Cooperative Savings and Credit Union for organizing such a great conference aimed at improving the performance of SACCOs. He said that BOU commends the members of SACCOs also known as Cooperators for the unique bond of Socio Enterprise and ability to manage the SACCO’s for the benefit of their members which he said clearly distinguishes SACCOs from other profit driven financial institutions. “By mobilizing savings and offering credit to their members, SACCOs are making a significant contribution to socioeconomic transformation of our country”. He stressed.

 

Mr Atingi Ego revealed that the Cooperative Movement’s according to the report by Ministry of Finance for 2020 supported well above, 13% of the Ugandans population. He observed that SACCOs hold enormous potential for driving national socioeconomic transformation. “It’s no wonder that the growth of Cooperative Movement in Uganda doubled to 21,346 registered Cooperative Societies as of February 2020 as reported by the international Cooperative Alliance from 10.146 registered societies as of January 2011”. Said the Deputy Governor BOU.

 

Mr Atingi Ego noted that SACCOs offer enormous prospects for broadening access to financial services to the under served in remote areas across the country which he said indeed the conference theme, “Remodelling the SACCOs Business Model for Inclusivity” speaks to and inspires stakeholders to leverage SACCOs for financial inclusion as indicated in the National Financial Industry survey 2017-2022. 

 

He informed the participants that BOU is committed to playing it’s role in working with stakeholders to advance financial inclusion for economic development of Uganda. He stated that BOU’s commitment is embedded in the recent recasting of it’s mission to read “To promote price stability and a sound financial system in support of Socio economic transformation in Uganda”. 

 

The deputy Governor, further informed members that the central bank is also committed to working together with UCSCU, the Registrar of Cooperatives, Uganda Microfinance Regulatory Authority (UMRA) and other industry stakeholders to uphold the spirit of Cooperators as they evolve the SACCO business model to build an inclusive, equitable and better world.

 

The Chairperson UCSCU Mrs Jalia Bintu Lukumu Abwooli commended the members of the Cooperatives Movement for the team work and cooperation that enables UCSCU remain strategic and stable in delivering it’s mandate and quality service. She applauded the Cooperative Societies that supported the event financially and Wazalendo SACCO in particular was applauded for the timely contribution and dedicated service towards the growth of the Union. She noted that Wazalendo SACCO has been giving generously for the good of UCSCU.

 

She urged the participants to utilize the knowledge given by the presenters who are experts in the Cooperatives Movement, and experiences shared to to improve their respective SACCOs and make them sustainable.

 

The Chairperson further noted that UCSCU prepares an Annual Conference for the members prior to the Annual General Meeting in order to review the previous resolutions and come up with new ideas that can help cooperatives on how to improve each other as Cooperators under principle number 5 of Cooperative – education, training and information.

 

She outlined this year’s conference objectives to include among others;

 

Analysing the impact of innovations on the SACCO Business, Assessing the impact of Prudential financial management, Regulation on member benefits and Evaluating the SACCO branching option for service delivery in cooperatives and evaluating the insurance Option of effective Agriculture financing.

 

The CEO UCSCU Dr Silvester Ndiroramukama while giving his closing remarks revealed that While planning for the conference, there were SACCOs that would not have been able to subscribe to attend. “When WSACCO was contacted for support in order to enable such SACCOs to attend, it came in handy and gave a financial contribution which paid for such SACCO’s under the principle of Cooperation among the Cooperators. “As I speak, those SACCOs have attended in big numbers and I believe there will be great impact at the end of the conference”. Said Dr Ndiroramukama.

 

The Chief Executive Officer of Wazalendo SACCO Col Joseph Freddy Onata one of the experts who presented on the topic “Leveraging on innovation to counter Business Disruptions for SACCOs” asked members to embrace the cooperative movement and work together to make impact in the communities where they serve. “For us as Wazalendo SACCO, giving to support other SACCOs is not to show off how capable we are but an effort to promote cooperation, unity and concern for the community. Let each one of us ask what their role is in implementing the basic principles of cooperatives.  “We have a vibrant Cooperative Movement in Uganda, only that people need to use that data available to identify and tap into opportunities that exist in the Cooperatives sector. We also need to reinforce the ideas that we have through information and knowledge sharing in order to achieve the objectives for which our SACCOs exist and overcome the challenges in the Industry”. Said Col Onata.

 

The CEO WSACCO informed participants that much as Wazalendo is growing bigger, it shall not become a Commercial Bank as many people anticipate because the leadership of WSACCO and the members now understand and appreciate that SACCOs and banks are different business models and pursue different objectives. “SACCOs are primarily established to deal with the welfare issues and therefore transforming SACCOs into Commercial Banks, Credit Institutions or Micro Deposit Taking Institutions (MDIs) would amount to Mission drift and it’s attendant consequences”. He assured the conference participants that Wazalendo SACCO shall remain pursuing the objective for which it was established 17 years ago and appealed to other SACCOs to do the same. 

 

In his presentation, Col Onata emphasized why cooperatives are distinct, the key SACCO features, cooperative basic principles, gave an over view of cooperatives in Uganda as well as highlights of Uganda’s banking sector which he deemed critical in understanding the distinctive features of the SACCO model. He also outline business disruptions faced by SACCOs and their manifestations. He also pointed out; economic, Social Environmental and Technological disruptions among the business disruption that SACCOs have faced in the recent past with varied impact and effects. 

 

On the basis of the disruptions outlined, he suggested focus areas for innovation in SACCOs that included among others, membership growth, Funding mobilization, Credit demand, Focus, Financial sustainability, Policy and Regulation focused innovations.

 

He concluded his presentation by challenging SACCO leaders and members to first understand the SACCO business model before they think of any innovations. He also noted that Understanding of the SACCO model in terms of strategic direction and building the same understanding among the members is very important for successful innovation. He advised that any innovation to be carried out must be member centric if it is to generate the desired outcomes.

 

The conference drew participants from the leaders and managers of different SACCOs across the country as well as other players from the financial Sector.