Mwalimu National Deposit Taking Savings and Credit Co-operative Organisation (DT Sacco) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI) to bring affordable credit to small traders and entrepreneurs long trapped in a cycle of expensive digital loans and shylocks. a move that signals a significant shift in the cooperative’s membership and lending strategy.
The partnership, witnessed by Mwalimu National Sacco Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kenneth Odhiambo, Chairman Joel Gachari, KNCCI Nairobi Chapter Chairman James Mwaura and KNCCI Director Susan Kagundu, is designed to strengthen support for entrepreneurs, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and the wider business community through financial inclusion, enterprise development and capacity-building initiatives.
The Sacco, which has traditionally served teachers under the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), said the partnership aligns with its broader mission of promoting economic empowerment and inclusive growth, and reaffirmed its commitment to providing innovative financial products and tailored solutions to meet the evolving needs of SMEs and entrepreneurs.
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Odhiambo said the Sacco already has some experience lending to business owners within its existing membership.
“We are already having MSMEs in a small way within our current membership. There are those members who actually do not rely on the payslip-based lending. We are already looking at their inflows in terms of the business that they are doing and have been able to lend them based on the inflows that we are seeing,” he said.
He added that Sacco has already set up infrastructure to support business-based lending. “Actually, we are running even M-Pesa Paybill and till numbers. So they can channel the proceeds from their businesses here. So we look at them in terms of what it is that they can bring to access those MSME loans,” Odhiambo said.
The CEO said going forward, the Sacco wants to grow not by size but by the greatest impact, and will use the partnership to make the Mwalimu National Sacco brand more visible and appealing to the general public, particularly the SME sector.
Chairman Gachari said the idea of bringing in non-teaching members was first mooted in 2023 when the Sacco opened its bond, and the KNCCI partnership is the natural extension of that decision.
“And that’s why we are here, so that we can celebrate this partnership with KNCCI. As their chairman has said, they are so big in the informal sector. We want to see how we can also onboard the informal sector in the short run within the cooperative society and then go to manufacturing and the blue economy in the long run,” he said.
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Loans to informal-sector members under the partnership will carry an interest rate of 12 per cent. Gachari said strict credit appraisal measures will be enforced to protect the quality of the loan book.
“Even the appraisal of the credit that we are going to give to the members in the informal sector is going to be tight to ensure that any amount of money that we give to the informal sector is collectible, and we are going to have some financial literacy programme with these members so that we can also guide them so that once you borrow, you spend wisely and you ensure that you pay promptly,” he said.
KNCCI Nairobi Chapter leadership emphasised the importance of strategic collaborations in accelerating enterprise growth and creating sustainable economic opportunities for entrepreneurs across Nairobi County.
By Benedict Aoya
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