By Wesley Ken.
Elimu Sacco Society Limited recently held a well-attended all-members’ Education Day at Jamhuri High School Hall in Nairobi to enlighten members on their rights and obligations. The initiative, which is part of the Sacco’s annual activities was aimed at empowering members through imparting to them useful knowledge concerning the Sacco’s products and services, besides motivating them and giving them an opportunity to refresh on leadership of the Sacco.
It is during such an occasion that the Board and management get to report to the members and present a brief review of the business in the past year. Similarly, characteristic of the day is to encourage members to save more so that they can be empowered to invest in property and other ventures.
In the recent past, the Sacco has stepped up its efforts in disseminating information to members and regularly updating them through their respective employers.
The Sacco uses members’ mobile phones, and working with the the marketing team that visits various institutions to reach members, the Sacco enlightens members about new activities. The members then get to ask questions and get clarifications.
Speaking at the event, Elimu Sacco National Chairman, Edwin Otieno, said that going forward members will have continue having improved service delivery as has been the case. “My committee inherited a society that did not have any savings, did not have pay loans on time,” he said.
“ There were backlogs running to over two years; the society could not refund members’ dues when they were leaving. But we have put the society on a very efficient footing now and we have put systems in place to ensure excellent service delivery,” he noted.
During the event, the society rolled out new products and services which included Elimu-Pesa and G-patie Tank Loan and the Elimu Sacco Web Portal.
Elimu-Pesa is a mobile banking application that enables the Sacco member to access their account wherever they are at any time of their convenience. With the application, members can make deposits to the society both in the FOSA and BOSA, pay their loans and get advances, access savings at any time of your convenience, know their account balance, receive salary alerts among other services.
G-Patie Tank Loan is back office product whose repayment period is 12 months or less. The processing period is within one week upon receipt and payment will be made if members qualify for the whole amount. The Sacco has partnered with Kentainer Limited to offer this product.
Elimu Sacco CEO Angela Nyanjong , addressing members during the event, noted that the Sacco had greatly improved service delivery with FOSA being more efficient.
“ As you can see we have revamped our FOSA staff team. We have hired qualified individuals who have previously held similar positions in reputable Saccos in the country and even some who have worked with banks,” she said.
“Currently we have internal and external staff who do their work with a freehand. If they detect any anomaly, they make recommendations that will be acted upon. This way of ensuring efficiency in the running of the Sacco,” she added.
Elimu Sacco takes prides itself in disbursing funds to its members in the fastest way possible. For all transactions done to a member’s account, a point is made to immediately send a notification, be it salary, withdrawals, deposits and guarantorship, she said.
Members were urged to take the alerts seriously and should they find the notification inappropriate they should call the customer care number which will correct it immediately.
With the introduction of the Elimu Sacco Web portal, members can now access and download their statements online, she noted, adding that they can also know their loan ability which can be calculated through the portal. This helps them make informed decisions when taking a loan among other benefits, she added.
