What is a Sacco/What are Saccos?
The acronym SACCO is an abbreviation of Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisation used to refer to Saccos. It can be defined as an organization where people come together to pool resources and savings and offer loans to their own members in a bid to create wealth and personal development for each of the members. The main objective behind a Sacco is to empower people financially by providing savings and loan services in order to create wealth.
How are Saccos formed?
Community members come together, form a group and start saving their money. They appoint one of the members to become the treasurer, but with time the group grows tremendously and the money cannot be handled by one person, this leads to an absolute decision to form a Sacco.
Why a Sacco instead of a Bank?
The main advantage of choosing a Sacco instead of a Bank is that; Saccos charge low interest rates on Loans than Banks. The loan rates are constant overtime and do not have some extra/hidden charges required to obtain a loan. Also, Saccos have a share owning program where the money invested in the Saccos by members or shareholders represents a certain percent/unit of ownership by the member/shareholder.
These shares are useful on several instances; e.g. when acquiring a loan, a member does not have to hand in a Title Deed or a Log Book to secure the loan. Instead, the Sacco calculates the total share ownership of the member and issues them a loan of a certain percentage, say 70%.
Therefore, if a member has shares worth 1 Million, the it is easy to secure a Ksh 700,000 loan. Additionally, a member can decide to withdraw all his shares from the Sacco, in that case he shall be issued with the whole amount worth his shares and in this case Ksh 1 Million. Saccos are most appropriate for low income groups as they help them grow financially within a reasonable period of time.
How do I register a Sacco in Kenya?
To register a Sacco in Kenya, it has to be accredited by the Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority of Kenya. (SASRA). If the Sacco intends to take deposits from its members/customers, it will be required to obtain a license from the authority. SASRA is mandated by section 24 of the Saccos Societies Act 2008 to license and regulate the operation of Deposit Taking Saccos.
Today, Kenya has over 170 registered Saccos operating in the country. These Saccos have helped a lot of people detach themselves from the cobwebs of poverty by providing savings and investment loans at relatively fair interest rates. This article focuses on the list of registered Saccos in Kenya, their contacts and location.
