BRANCH NETWORK

Umwalimu SACCO has operational branches in all the 30 districts across the country. In addition to the district based branches, Umwalimu SACCO has partnerships with Umurenge SACCOs. This partnership has helped members of Umwalimu SACCO to access services near them.

UGANDA

DEMOCRACTIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

Musanze Burera

Nyamasheke Rubavu Nyabihu

Rutsiro Ngororero

Karongi

Nyamagabe Gakenke Rulindo Gicumbi

Gasabo

Muhanga

Kamonyi

Nyarugenge Kicukiro

Ruhango

Nyanza Bugesera

Rusizi

Nyaruguru Huye

Gisagara

BURUNDI

Nyagatare

Gatsibo

Rwamagana

Ngoma Kayonza

Kirehe

TANZANIA

Financing Teachers’ Path To Prosperity

The cooperative Umwalimu SACCO was created in 2006 by the initiative of H.E President Paul Kagame and was licensed to operate as a financial institution by the National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) on 22nd February 2008.

For the past nine years in operation, Umwalimu SACCO has helped teachers transform their lives socially and economically thus increasing their motivation to provide quality education.

The Managing Director of Umwalimu SACCO Mr. Joseph Museruka says that since 2010, the cooperative has focused on product diversification so as to give teachers a bigger pool of financial products to choose from and efficient customer service delivery.

The management, adds Mr. Museruka, has also been preoccupied by training teachers at the grassroots level in financial literacy and business planning and management skills in order to increase their knowledge in preparing and managing successful income generating projects. The Staff of the cooperative have also been trained in to get skills needed in the management of the SACCO.

Currently, Umwalimu SACCO has a teacher at cell level trained in business planning and management skills. These teachers will be used to train one teacher at school level who will also help to train their colleagues at the school center level across the country.

The management also turned Umwalimu SACCO into a profitable financial institution since 2010 while accounts opened by members, value of loans and assets also increased tremendously as shown in the key performance statistics.

Emerging from a loss of Rwf 453,654,029 in 2009, Umwalimu SACCO realized a profit of Rwf 64,987,021 , Rwf700 million, Rwf865million, Rwf1.2 billion in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013

Emerging from a loss of Rwf 453,654,029 in 2009, Umwalimu SACCO realized its first profit of Rwf 64,987,021 in 2010 and in 2014; it realized a pre-tax profit of Rwf1, 406,534,814, indicating that the teachers’ savings and credit cooperative was in the right path to become self-reliant.

Mr. Joseph MUSERUKA Umwalimu SACCO Managing Director

respectively while in 2014;, its profit surged to Rwf1, 406,534,814, indicating that the teachers’ savings and credit cooperative is on the right path to become self-reliant.

The number of operating accounts held by members increased from 42,017 in 2009 to 75,746 in 2014, indicating the demand teachers have in utilizing financial services for to improve their welfare.

The number of members’ permanent savings in the SACCO also increased tremendously from Rwf1,770,741,675 in 2009 to an impressive Rwf9,257,547,242 at the end of 2014. This has given Umwalimu SACCO a firm financial base to lend more to the teachers who submit loan requests to finance income generating projects.

With more members and permanent savings, Umwalimu SACCO provided a record amount of loans to its members. The SACCO’s loan book expanded from Rwf2, 143,241,843 in 2009 to a whopping Rwf83, 757,205,962 by the end of December 2014.

The increase in the SACCO’s permanent savings from members, the rise in the amount of loans given out to the members and government grants boosted the SACCO’s assets from Rwf4, 039,166,511 in December 2009 to Rwf35, 424,524,021 in December 2014, thus making it one of the most valuable savings and credit cooperatives in Rwanda.

Umwalimu SACCO has also been increasing its staff members from 79 in 2009 to 237 in 2014, thus enabling it to provide quick and excellent services to its members in all the thirty districts of Rwanda.

The number of branches operated by Umwalimu SACCO also increased from 16 branches in 2010 to 30 meaning each in every district and it is now working with Umerenge Savings and Credit Cooperatives based at the grassroots levels in order to serve teachers easily.

The partnership between Umwalimu SACCO and Umurenge SACCO was facilitated by the use of Umwalimu SACCO’s Management Information Systems (MIS) which enables capturing of banking transactions carried out at Umurenge SACCO. This partnership has been a huge boost to the service delivery.

Umwalimu SACCO is also using mobile banking in order to facilitate teachers to check their account balances using their mobile phones. The SACCO is also in planning to introduce electronic cards used in Automated Teller Machines (ATM) such as VISA cards and others to facilitate its members to engage in electronic payments.

Mr. Museruka attributes the impressive achievements of Umwalimu SACCO to a strong management, increasing participation of members in the management of the SACCO and government support.

Role model to other countries

Some of African countries consider Rwanda’s Umwalimu SACCO achievements and innovation plan as a good example to improve teachers’ welfare. For example, Umwalimu SACCO in Rwanda has helped Togolese teachers to create a similar SACCO. If one analyses Umwalimu SACCO impact assessment conducted in 2014 and the strategic thinking for improving teachers’ welfare, one can conclude that the cooperative is another home grown solution made in Rwanda under the initiative of H.E President Paul Kagame.

Transforming Teachers’ Welfare Through Affordable Loans

Since 2010, the loan ceiling of Umwalimu SACCO has progressively increased from Rwf 3,000,000 payable in 2 years to Rwf 15,000,000 payable in 15 years. However, starting 2013, the maximum loan offered depends on the borrower repayment capacity. This has seen the number of borrowers increasing and the amount of money released by the SACCO as loans increasing.

Total amount of loans released by Umwalimu SACCO increased from Rwf2, 143,241,843 in 2009 to a whopping Rwf83, 757,205,962 by the end of December 2014. Loans were given to projects in Agriculture, Livestock, Construction, Education and Small business category.

Umwalimu SACCO members being served at the Head Office branch.

According to statistics from Umwalimu SACCO, in 2009, the number of financed projects in Agriculture category stood at 328 valued at Rwf 118,177,220 but in 2014, the number of financed agricultural projects had reached 2,544 with a value of Rwf 1,691,829,459.

In the livestock category, in 2009, Umwalimu SACCO financed 620 projects valued at Rwf 245,951,314 while in 2014, the number of financed livestock projects had increased to 3,223 with the value increasing to Rwf 1,693,728,759.

In construction of residential houses or renovation of the existing ones with financing from Umwalimu SACCO, the number of financed projects stood at 2,396 with the total value of Rwf 874,549,724.

In 2014, the number of financed construction projects had reached 29,347 with the total value of Rwf 30,450,598,754. This means that today, nearly 30,000 teachers have got mortgage loan.

In financing education, Umwalimu SACCO released Rwf 163,453,141 in 2009 to finance 513 requests while in 2014; this number had reached 55,141 with the value of Rwf 8,629,630,524 as school fees loans.

Umwalimu SACCO members being served at the Head Office branch.

In other businesses mainly small income generating projects, Umwalimu SACCO financed 1,170 projects in 2009 at the tune of Rwf 701,110,444. In 2014; the number of small projects had increased to 548,211 valued at Rwf 40,994,114,284.

Going forward

The Government of Rwanda is committed to improving the welfare of teachers. To achieve this, the government has committed to give Umwalimu SACCO a grant of Rwf30billion in a period of 10 years from 2012 to 2022 in order to have sufficient financial resources to lend to teachers. However, the government has aligned this financing to targets which Umwalimu SACCO management should achieve by the end of the grant period.

Mr. Museruka says that Government has tasked Umwalimu SACCO to ensure that by 2022, 51,000 public teachers each has an income generating activity worth Rwf1million. Mr. Museruka and his team, however, want to achieve this target by 2019.

In his strategy, Mr. Museruka says that Umwalimu SACCO is now focused on mobilizing teachers to form cooperatives at the school centers and come up with income generating projects which Umwalimu SACCO will finance. Another strategy, he says, will be to increase the membership of Umwalimu SACCO. This will be done by mobilizing 14,000 teachers in other financial institutions to join to Umwalimu SACCO and take advantage of the incentives given by their cooperative such as an interest rate of 11% per year. This will however require buying commitments such as loans some teachers have taken in other financial institutions so that they can join Umwalimu SACCO.

Mr. Museruka continues to explain that the management will also continue to reduce the money going into operational expenses of Umwalimu SACCO members so that it can lend more to the members with income generating projects.

This will be coupled with continuous training on project preparation and management to the members.

Umwalimu SACCO plans to acquire a modern building and turn it into its Headquarters so that its staff can have enough office space where to operate from.

The coopertative is also planning on how to help teachers to get cows in line with Gir’inka Munyarwanda programme initiated by President Paul Kagame. This will further help improve the welfare of teachers and their familiies.