By Ken Ondieki
Going by Kirinyaga Butchers Sacco Chairman, Christopher Muthigani, butchers are the most trusted people in the world. He is a firm believer in this and firmly believes that the only way for his Sacco is up. Thus, the Sacco’s prospects will soon hit the skies.
The Sacco scooped the Rural Sacco with highest savings per member award in Kirinyaga County in this year’s during the International Cooperatives Day (Ushirika Day) celebration held at Kutus Primary School. KBS brings together butchers of pork, beef, mutton and goat meat. Here the Sacco members collectively assemble the hide and skins by-products in the market and sell them as a Sacco. It is from the proceeds of these products that they either buy shares or pay loans. “We give loans against the
Kirinyaga Butchers feted for being Highest Savings rural Sacco
Kirinyaga Butchers Sacco Chairman, Christopher Muthigani, receiving the Award from County CEC Joyce Muriithi.
hides and skins from our members,” he says.
The Sacco’s excellent performance has a lot to do with the Sacco’s savings design, which according to Muthigani, is very appealing to its members “You don’t have to pay directly, you can pay through the sale of hides and skins enabling our members to save without strain, a testament to the results we now have,” he adds.
At the start, the Sacco only targeted butchers but at the moment, it’s incorporating non-butchers into its membership, and has already included the butchers’ employees into the Sacco.
Soon, the Sacco will launch a new product that will ensure that its members have access to a short term loan (one month) to enable its members obtain animals for slaughter. KBS issues loans at 1.5 per cent per annum to those with hides and skins and those without. “The only difference is that those with the by-products get loans up to thrice their savings while others get twice their savings,” he adds.
This is to ensure that they encourage more people with hides and skins to bring them on board so that eventually, the Sacco will have more of these by-products to which value can be added to bring about higher profits. It aims at producing leather products like shoes, baskets, jackets and other leather accessories.
KBS is keen on putting up a modern slaughter house which the chairman says will enhance and expand its reach to the whole county and later to the neighbouring ones.
“We butchers are the easiest people to partner with in business, “he concludes.
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