Sacco Introduces ‘Mjengo’ Product for Member Mortgage Finance

Sacco Introduces ‘Mjengo’ Product for Member Mortgage Finance to Maximize Growth

By Wycliffe Musalia

Waumini Savings and Credit Cooperative Society has introduced a new product dubbed ‘Mjengo loan’ in its Front Office Savings Activities, in an effort to enable members build and acquire their own houses through mortgage finance.

Housing being part of the Government big four agenda spearheaded by President Uhuru Kenyatta, the society thought it wise to realize it(the agenda) by offering their members with FOSA MJENGO LOAN, which will relieve them off paying rent through acquisition of plots already purchased by Waumini Sacco.

Mjengo loan features a maximum loan repayment period of 15 years, for a maximum loan worth Kshs 3,000,000 granted to members. The interest rate is 14 % per annum on reducing balance. Waumini Sacco CEO Peter Obbuyi

Customer served at Waumini Sacco

Waumini Sacco says that security for Fosa Mjengo loan are land and the building to be constructed on the piece of land, title deeds, and Waumini Sacco plots with or without title deeds.

Growth Strategy

The product will also enable and allow members to purchase already constructed houses, initiate home construction, complete partially constructed houses, and purchase plots.

The society introduced ‘Mjengo loan’ product during its third quarter ended September 30, as part of the strategy to maximize growth in the changing financial markets.

The strategies to boost growth in the society were crafted during the May 2019 retreat held by the board and the supervisory Committee.

Mjengo loan comes under a review of Products and Services strategy by the society, meant to enable member’s access and meet increasing financial needs.

Another measure under the strategy was the improvement of communication Systems, which saw the society, invest in a modern communication technology, to provide members with a self-driven service.

The communication service delivery was enhanced in September, with ability to host more than 30 calls at the same time. Hon. Secretary Margret Mwaniki confirmed in the third quarter circular that the service is fully self-driven with capabilities of escalating calls to the head of each department or member desired call destination.

FOSA products at Waumini Sacco range from Savings (Junior account, fixed deposit, starehe account, Celeb and Pamoja account) to Credit

(Salary advance, Tulia, Mjengo, Fosa loans among others) products.

Other products offered by the society, other than FOSA, include Back Office Savings Activities (BOSA) and M-Sacco. Under BOSA, members can get loyalty loans, emergency, Chapaa loan, Instant loan, development loan and Mazao loan. Savings products are also available under this category.

For M-Sacco services, members can easily transact through their mobile phones at their convenience and comfort of their work places/homes, by dialing *346# to access withdrawal, Balance Inquiry, Loan repayment, ministatement, change pin, Fosa to Bosa transfer services among others.

Waumini Sacco Society started in 1980 under the Co-operative Societies Act of the Laws of Kenya, with a primary motive of mobilizing Savings and Deposits, extending Credit to its members and empowering them economically and socially.

The sacco has a total membership of over 25,000 subscribers from 878 Catholic institutions across 26 Catholic Dioceses in Kenya, Catholic Church Faithful and previous employees of Catholic institutions “Mzalendo”.

Front Office Service Activity (FOSA) were introduced in March 2009, to offer banking services to members, and to date the Sacco has incorporated Mobile Baking Services (M-Sacco), and currently has two FOSA banking halls (one in Nairobi HQ and one in Nakuru branch).

Cabinet Approves National Cooperative Policy Among Others

By PSCU T he Cabinet has approved the National Cooperative Policy to enable coordination of cooperative societies in the country.

“This cooperatives policy establishes an institutional framework for enhancement of coordination of cooperative societies in the country,” Cabinet

According to the Cabinet Secretaries led by Deputy President William Ruto, the policy will to deepen the deployment of ICTs in the management of saccos as well as promote good corporate governance.

The Cabinet also approved regulations for non-deposit taking Saccos aimed at protecting Kenyans against risks of poor investment decisions, inadequate transparency and information disclosure, disregard for members interests as well as self-preservation by officials of saccos.

Other policies approved by the cabinet included, Kenya Youth Development Policy (KYDP) 2019 which seeks to mainstream issues affecting the youth and Business Laws (Amendment) Bill 2019 and .

Among the statutes identified for amendment include the Law of Contract Act, the Industrial Training Act, the Registration of Documents Act, the Survey Act, the Stamp Duty Act, the Kenya Information and Communications Act and the National Construction Authority Act. Others are the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Land Registration Act, the Business Registration Act, the Companies Act and the Insolvency Act. On health, the Cabinet approved the establishment of Mathari National Teaching and Referral Hospital and the designation of Gilgil Hospital as a satellite mental health facility of Mathari.

Further, the President directed the Ministry of Health to establish a taskforce on the status of mental health in country and come up with new policies needed to address the growing concerns about mental health among Kenyans.

The findings of the taskforce which will be discussed in Cabinet within 90 days will assist government in allocation of resources to mental health.

The Cabinet meeting also approved the piloting of the Engineered Base Stabilizer (EBS) roads in Nairobi City County. EBS is a new road construction technology that is considered relatively cheaper compared to the conventional approaches.

The pilot will be carried out on low traffic volume access roads in Kibra and Dagoretti South constituencies and replicated in other areas if it proves successful.

The Cabinet meeting also discussed and approved the National Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) Policy which is aimed at scaling up the management of menstrual hygiene in the country.

The policy highlights MHM as a rights issue and brings it into the mainstream of the country’s health and development agenda by considering the prevailing social, economic, cultural and demographic contexts of women and girls.

Cabinet also approved the extension of the ban on logging by one year. However, the Ministry of Environment was directed to establish an inter-agency team to undertake an assessment of mature forests that are ready for harvesting and report back to Cabinet by April 2020.