What if we formed a Sacco using ‘members’ who have ‘liked’ the Facebook Page “Co-operative Movement in Kenya”…?

We are 693 of the Facebook Page Co-operative Movement in Kenya. What if we formed a Sacco? Is it even plausible? I know we are going to find it hard defining and selling our common bond as “Social media users who have liked the Facebook Page ‘Co-operative Movement in Kenya’ and engage in lawful businesses and professions in Kenya” to the Commissioner of Co-operatives. But wont it be something if it were possible? 693 is a good number as the Law only requires 10 people!!

So why am I saying it is difficult through questioning if it were possible? For any group of people who would like to start a Sacco society, will be required to notify the closest co-operative office and organize for a pre-co-operative education with all eligible/potential members. Now that is the problem. How and where are we all going to meet? Do we even have a history together to say that we know each other and we have had a similar experience through a self-help group? I am saying this because, all successful co-operative ventures started as small groups of people who knew each other and that is how trust is established and would be members can bring resources together and entrust the same to the elected few.

But lets see how such a co-operative will look like with the 693 members!! Just assumptions now:-

• Entrance/registration fees    =    1000/= (693 members* 1000/= gives us 693,000/=)
• Value of one share                     =     20/=
• Minimum shares 100 valued at = 2000/= (i.e. 20/=*100 shares and total share capital is 2000*693= 1,386,000.00/=)
• Monthly contributions            =    500/= (For one month 500*693= 346,500/=)
• Saccos give loans after 6 months from the date of registration. So the total monthly contributions will be 346,500/= *6 =2,079,000/=
• At the end of six months we would have had a total of Ksh. 4,158,000.00 minus expenses.

Expenses are mainly:

• Registration expenses   =   10,000.00 (including Ksh. 3,500.00 for application and registration fees, cost of hiring a venue, printing and stationery costs i.e. making the By-Laws and economic appraisal, e.t.c.)
• Bookkeeping fees   = 8,000.00
• Audit and supervision fees  =  15,000.00
• Travel and subsistence allowance   =  20,000.00
• Sitting allowance of the committees  =  30,000.00
• General meeting expenses  =   20,000.00
• Education and training  =  25,000.00

Total expenses for the first year = 128,000.00/=

Ksh. 4,158,000 – 128,000.00  =  4,030,000.00/=

After 6 months we loan out 80% of Ksh. 4,030,000.00 i.e. Ksh. 3,224,000.00 repaid within 6 months at 1% reducing balance to 322 each taking Ksh. 10,000.00 giving us an income of Ksh. 112,840.00

Note that it looks like we did not break even the first year but remember registration/entrance fees is treated as income and also we will be recruiting more members from the figure of 693 and we will still be giving out loans as we move from the 7-12th month. We can also include other sources of income like fines/penalties, interest from bank, etc.

Okay buddies, remember Saccos are the best way to save. Note the interest I indicated in the example above as 1% on reducing balance!! Majority of Saccos charge this interest, ask around. Also note that the monthly contributions are not restricted to the minimum given of Ksh. 500.00 above; you can save more than that.

HAVE AN AWESOME WEEKEND. CHEERS!!

Annual General Meetings are Here!!!

This is the time all co-operatives that have their financial year as 1st January to 31st December are holding their annual general meetings. Members’ expectations of course is tied to interest on deposit and dividends. People are making calls to know what percentages they are getting for the previous financial year. Some are making calls to know who is retiring in the management committee and who are contesting. Most probably nobody is sending their agendas to be considered for discussed at the AGM.

Most co-operatives only meet once in a year whether through the delegates system or whole membership attending the AGMs. Sometimes the agendas are so congested such that all of them are not discussed and some important agendas are postponed till the next AGM!!! That is 12 months or more of delay!!! So how do we get out the most from these meetings as societies or as members??

The societies…..

1. Membership/delegates should be informed earlier as stipulated in the societies’ by-laws. All of the agenda clearly stated. AOB (Any Other Business) shouldn’t be encouraged always as this ends up consuming more time. Members should be encouraged to present their agendas to the secretary early enough to be considered for discussion in the AGM.

2. Keep time. I have attended many AGMs and keeping time is a big problem. Members and even the board of directors/management committees most times never arrive on time. On average meetings usually start 2 hours later after the stipulated time even 4 hours later is not uncommon!!. This discourages some members who usually arrive early and they are also converted to late comers of AGMs. Also late meetings will lead to all the agendas being not discussed sufficiently and resolutions too will not be of quality or well thought out as the early birds will be tired.

3. Keep to the agendas. I have been to meetings where the chairman loses the control of the agenda and the membership end up discussing other things. This will to lead meeting being prolonged and members exhausted and therefore failure to finish all the agendas or have effective meeting.

4. Let the presentations be brief and to the point. Some people when given time, will bore members to death and it happens that these people are poor in reading body language. Difficult to them to know if members are bored. These people are sometimes not time conscious and most times they are the ones that arrive late for meetings!! It is important that societies’ appoint a time-keeper who will notify speakers if they have finished their allocated time.

5. Do not give drinks when the meeting is ongoing. It is better to have a short break rather than you have a presenter on the floor and someone is distributing drinks or food. Membership ends up not listening or their concentration is interfered with because of the movements and noise. Better, provide water before the meeting starts.

6. Use public address system if member numbers exceed 100! Some people are inaudible and they end up talking on the podium with the first and second rows and the rest of membership wonder what the person in front of them is saying!!

7. Switch phones off or have them in silent mode. I have witnessed several members of the societies an even board members, receiving calls when the meeting is ongoing. That is RUDE!! If the call is important, walk out with minimal noise.

8. It is good to take questions first and then answer them instead of taking one question and answering that one question before going to the next question. This saves time.

9. The societies’ minutes should capture all the relevant issues being said and proposers and seconders of those issues. It will be easier to pick up from where the societies left from the previous meetings.

The membership/delegates……..

1. Come with a pen and a paper and note all the points you thing are important or questions you will need clarification on.

2.Be patient and let there be order in asking questions. If your question has been asked, do not ask the same thing again.

3. Learn to arrive early as stipulated in the notice convening the meeting. It is good to be time keepers by reminding the management/board/members/delegates if they are taking too long to start or spending too much time on a topic or a point.

4. Be constructive. Remember the supreme authority is the AGM. Whatever is discussed or passed in these meetings as resolutions are what will determine the future of the co-operative society and also the ramifications are far much greater and do not stop at you. So be helpful.

5. Restrict your movements. Some are particularly annoying and cannot be in a meeting for more than ten minutes continuously. They usually keep dragging everybody else on same issues that have been asked or discussed time and again.

Probably there are more points that I have missed, but hope that the message has been driven home here….cheers!!

 

 

REACTIVE LEADERSHIP IN COUNTRYWIDE SACCOs A NAGGING BUG!!

I will refer to this article Will Saccos Die in the Devolved Governments Era I wrote here sometimes back and how the leadership of countrywide Saccos have failed their membership despite the impending difficulties. I had said that remittance could pose a challenge, and it sure did and is still an ongoing challenge. We all read these story Ukulima Sacco freezes staff loans on Daily Nation and you wonder how comes the leadership of Ukulima and other countrywide Saccos did not anticipate this problem and come up with measures to safeguard their members funds beforehand. 

The leadership of co-operatives in Kenya are sometimes laden with incompetence beyond your imagination. Yes, you can see buildings with names of co-operatives written on them and see suited men and women looking important heading to board meetings. But the truth is, most don’t measure to the task. They are ineligible even to attend a baraza in a village.

Devolution was coming. Staffs of certain sectors were to be devolved. We all knew this. News were full of these information. But the leadership just sat there and opted to be reactive. The sane thing to do was to visit all 47 counties and establish a rapport with the salary sections. Provide them with Sacco details and make sure to get contacts of all the 47 counties so that whenever the monies are not deducted as provided for in the deduction list or remitted within the stipulated time as per Section 35 of the Co-operative Societies Act, then you know who to contact and not just sit down and telling your members that you are waiting!!! Get realistic what are you waiting for? Your Saccos to collapse due to impending financial challenges?

It is a high time the leadership of the co-operative movement embraced technology. The government through GHRIS (Government Human Resource Information System) has provided (is it functional? Doubt it!!) an online platform where third parties e.g. Banks, MFI, Saccos, etc can login and access their members details. It would have been a relief if they could have used the system to provide deduction list or access individual members and have deductions posted for that particular month. This would have made it easier for county governments who in return would have paid the net salaries to its staffs and paid the various societies their members’ contributions within stipulated time. Things would have been easier and efficient instead of sending deduction lists to the 47 counties……this is where I start thinking if there is anyone out there who matters and has read what I have put here hehehe 🙂 Anyway, that is they way of the future. Cheers.

 

GUIDELINE ON PROCUREMENT

PURPOSE

The procurement guideline provides minimum  standards to ensure that co-operatives societies improve the speed and efficiency of the procurement function, reduce costs and improve the co-operatives society’s overall performance. Each co-operative should however, formulate its own detailed procurement policies in line with the Public Procurement and Disposal Act 2005 that take into account its special needs and circumstances.

SCOPE

This guideline provides some suggestions in procurement management process optimization and supplier performance management.

RESPONSIBILITY

It is the responsibility of the bard to ensure that the co-operative society develops policies that would lead to best practice in procurement function.

PROCUREMENT PROCESS MANAGEMENT

The procurement process management seeks to provide solutions to the following challenges:

• The length of time it takes to identify the right supplier
• Inability to locate pricing agreements for specific suppliers
• Lack of easy access to contract information
• Measurement of suppliers performance based on contract terms and
• The time required to correct problems that occur when supplier fails to comply with the contract.

Some of these procedures that result in optimal procurement include:

• a co-operative society should establish common procurement data base. This could be undertaken by streamlining contract data across suppliers of various commodities/services. With common procurement data, the co-operative society would be in a better position to select and channel volume commodity purchasing requirements to the most competitive suppliers. This in turn would lead to reduction in the cost of goods/services and improvement in efficiency.
• the co-operative should rely on up to date contract information to create purchase orders. These reduces chances of errors and the associated costs and also serve as a check on contract compliance.
• The co-operative contract data base should be comprehensive so as to allow for easy and fast identification of the preferred supplier. This enhances procurement efficiency and a reduction in time spent sourcing a supplier. It also improves the operations of the co-operative society’s supply chain as delays associated with identifying a supplier are reduced or eliminated. In addition, the contract data base should be capable of the fast identification of suppliers in time of shortages.

ENHANCED SUPPLIER PERFORMANCE

• The co-operative should constantly measure suppliers’ compliance to the terms of contract. This ensures that problems are identified at an early stage thus allowing the procurement department to take corrective action in time. The co-operative should identify and shift purchasing activities to good performing suppliers. By focusing on suppliers that perform well, the co-operative reduces the cost of multi-supplier maintenance and improve supplier relations.
• The procurement department should monitor contract compliance at the transaction level. This minimizes the costs associated with non adherence to the contract.
• Automated contract compliance checking frees the procurement department to devote resources to more strategic activities. This helps the co-operative to realize a better return on investment in procurement and improves the departmental productivity.

Back to Work

Hi, the blog has not been updated for awhile now, but I am back to business!!!!…keep the questions coming and anything you want to know about the co-operative movement in Kenya…i.e. general issues about the movement form registration to dissolution. Cheers.