Safaricom Sacco is among Deposit-Taking Saccos with the highest total members’ deposits in the country according to Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (SASRA) data.
The Sacco joins the large-tier of deposit-taking institutions holding members’ savings above Sh5 billion. There are only 20 Saccos that have achieved the feat under Sasra supervision.
A 2019 report by SASRA on the Sacco sub-sector reports shows only three Saccos were able to grow total deposits beyond the Sh5 billion mark in 2019.
Safaricom Sacco registered an impressive 16.38 per cent growth in members’ savings to reach Sh5.52 billion. The Sacco also posted a 13.58 per cent growth in total assets to hit Sh6.69 billion, ranking 21st richest DT-Sacco in the country.
The Sacco has been leveraging on information and communication technology to bolster growth, better service delivery and beat the growing competition.
It has set the pace in use of technology in the co-operative movement by fully implementing electronic members’ registration and becoming the first to conduct a successful online member voting during the 2020 Annual General Meeting.
In 2019, it was awarded for the Best Sacco in the use of mobile solutions by Digital Tech Excellence Awards.
The Deposit-taking Sacco embarked on a journey to move to a new system of operation shifting to Bankers Realm, which went live on 1st November 2019 according to its Board of Directors Chairman Paul Msava.
Bankers Realm is a modern and proven enterprise platform that meets the needs of next-generation banking. This web-enabled application gives the Sacco the capacity to service markets in diverse geographies and cultures in a multi-channel context, as it supports multi-currency and multi-lingual features.
The platform is agile and adaptive enough to support the Sacco’s digital transformation and able to accommodate its rapidly growing customer portfolio.
Under a project dubbed CIRI (an abbreviation of Sacco’s core values: Customer Focus, Innovations, Reliability and Integrity) the Sacco members are now able to transact 24/7 from SafCIRI App, USSD *345# and internet banking.
All the financial institution’s short term loans advanced to members are accessible via mobile banking.
With the new system, Mr Msava said they have been able to integrate the Sacco Link and Pesalink as well as Bank integrations allowing members to transfer cash from Sacco to the banks and vice versa.
“Since Safaricom Sacco was founded in 2001, we have seen our membership grow to 16,000. Driven by the need to provide competitive products to our members, we are leveraging on technology to gather business intelligence of the members to develop tailor-made products that suit individual needs,” said Joseph Njoroge, the Sacco Chief Executive Officer.
He affirmed that the Sacco had strengthened its cyber-security, locking out electronic fraudsters as the new technology offers the Sacco real-time failsafe against cyber-threats.
With the compelling, innovative and reliable digital space, the CEO said the Sacco continues to drive fast response times to customer needs which are vital in supporting members’ economic development, small and medium-sized businesses and its growing corporate clientele while enabling clients to interact seamlessly.
Mr Njoroge noted that the growth path of the Sacco is primarily rooted in harnessing technology for the socio-economic development of its members. “Embracing modern technology in service delivery has given us a competitive edge in the market.”
The Sacco, which is regulated and licensed by Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (SASRA), has greatly reduced paperwork and system downtimes.
To facilitate the cashless movement of funds, its Visa-branded ATMs enables members to withdraw money from various banks ATMs countrywide.
“We have a virtual helpdesk where members can email within working hours and get a fast response to their inquiries and feedback,” Mr Njoroge said. All the Sacco statements and forms are accessible online.
