A few years ago, the Deposit-taking Metropolitan National Sacco Ltd was struggling with debts that threatened to collapse it.
It took the intervention of Co-operative Bank which diagnosed the problem of mismanagement and prescribed that the Sacco must embark on reforms in order to come back
The Sacco whose membership predominantly come from teachers was struggling with Sh1.2 billion in debts after lending more to its members than it had in savings.
The Sacco was struggling and members wanted to leave, some even left, because of the delays in processing their salaries and loans.
However, the cooperative says the new measures, which kicked off in earnest last year, are already plugging financial loopholes and bolstering its growth.
Growth
The Sacco registered an increase in its asset value to Sh15 billion from Sh13 billion the previous year. Its share capital grew from Sh742 million to Sh755 million in the same period. Its cash reserve also recorded an upward trend.
Its total surplus for 2019 rose by Sh22 million. The institution has also recovered Sh110 million from non-performing loans that have dogged several lenders across the country.
“The Sacco has seen a reversal in members who wished to withdraw their membership while the few who had submitted withdrawal notices are still offered full membership benefits including dividends,” said Sacco Chief Executive Benson Mwangi.
CE Mwangi succeeded Francis Ng’ang’a in July 2019.
The succession was also part of the transformation strategy which is anchored on five pillars namely, liquidity management, deposit mobilisation, loan book management, operational efficiency and build-up of institutional capital.
“Following the approval of the transformation strategy at the 2019 Annual General Meeting, we have recruited an additional 167 new members and received 2070 membership reinstatements from the previous period. In that period, we have also seen a rise in the number of members wishing to reverse their earlier requests to withdraw their membership,” Mr Mwangi saidFra.
Though not out of the woods yet, the reforms have attracted new clients, brought back the ones who left and stopped the ones who were leaving from leaving.
“The Sacco has seen a reversal in members who wished to withdraw their membership while the few who had submitted withdrawal notices are still offered full membership benefits including dividends,” said Sacco’s CEO
“We are now embarking on phase two which will involve leveraging on technology to improve on service delivery, rolling out of new products and launching an online banking platform,” he said.
“We appreciate the positive response from our loyal members as we continue to deliver on our promises.”
CEO Benson Mwangi was appointed alongside Cyrus Kariamwere to deputise him and also act as the head of business development.
The Sacco, which was registered in 1977 as Kiambu Teachers Sacco and largely catered for teachers in the county, later changed its identity to its current more cosmopolitan name and brought on board members from government ministries, parastatals, Kenya Defence Forces, National Police Service, public and private universities, colleges, academies and the private sector among others.
