Annually, thousands of young, educated and energetic Kenyans join the already saturated labour market.
According to the Kenya Bureau of Statistics, in March this year, the number of unemployed youth rose by about 63 percent from about 1.9 million in 2019 to over 3.4 million in 2022.
It is time for Saccos to play a leading role in creating business entities that can absorb the unemployed in large numbers and for different reasons.
The Sacco model is, for example, strategically positioned to tackle a number of challenges facing society and the economy.
Annually, billions of shillings are cashed out to enable members to initiate income-generating activities.
However, it is time to be organized into better entities to finance startups as well as their growth and expansion to entities whose handsome profit margins can employ the youth.
Millions of shillings annually go to educating members. Education and information is the fifth cooperative principle and play an effective role.
In each calendar year, Saccos invite members or delegates where consultants in critical areas disseminate the necessary information.
Consequently, Sacco members should be better informed to start and run businesses that can generate employment opportunities.
Another critical ingredient that has driven Saccos is trust, where members guarantee others to take loans.
This should thus be a good platform to ensure members become business partners where each can work on their strengths for the growth and continuity of the business.
According to the Economic Survey 2023, the Kenyan population stands at about 50 million, and this presents an opportunity for Sacco members to engage in diverse sectors.
Sectors where members can invest exist, according to the survey, with diminishing crop yield topping the list.
The Sacco model will come in handy as the spirit of trust through guarantorship plays a key role in ensuring members get loans.
In Scandinavian countries, cooperative societies own and run businesses in transport, manufacturing, and other sectors.
A number of Sacco management and board of directors have visited these countries to learn and benchmark the best practices, and it is time the gathered knowledge is put into meaningful use.
Globally, Kenya is ranked as seventh in the cooperative sector and tops the charts in Africa, and this should count and form case studies in solving some of the problems facing the economy.
With billions of shillings mobilized from society and the same given out in the form of loans, it is time Saccos developed a strategy change and go big.
During the last regime, Saccos were touted as key partners in the Government’s big four agenda of affordable housing, manufacturing, food security and affordable healthcare.
It is time the amassed resources do the talking by creating employment opportunities from which the economies will prosper for generations to come.
This is akin to crowdfunding or venture capital, which is so common in Western economies and partly Asian economies.
A number of businesses, notably techies, owe their success to ventures as well as crowdfunding, and if the same principle is applied, this can give rise to new businesses.
Ours is where a good number of people rely on the Government to create jobs, but this should change to create an environment where businesses are able to create jobs in the country.
The overreliance stifles any bright growth prospects as this is tied to a number of bureaucracies, as witnessed in the past.
Small and medium enterprises have been credited with sustaining the economy for so long. Past data indicate that the informal sector employs about 75 percent of the workforce and contributes about.
And for this to happen, Saccos need to rejig their participation in the country’s social and economic growth.
