FROM THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S DESK:

“Cooperatives: Your Ladder to Prosperity”

 These are hard times. Everyone in business in our country today is talking of austerity and more austerity just to survive. Long winded fuel queues, the forex mirage, sky rocketing cost of goods and services, erratic power supply and elusive rainfall patterns have become common jargon. There is so much uncertainty out there. Financial Cooperatives, just like any other business have to deal with these hard times. Financial Cooperatives survived the 2007/2008 financial crisis. At the height of the global financial crisis in 2008, it was the co-operative business models that exhibited the most resilience to the market compared to its capital centered counterparts.

Financial Cooperatives will survive this litany of economic woes we are experiencing today. Financial Cooperatives derive their strength from the fact that cooperatives are about investing in real people and focusing on long term sustainable benefits.  For instance, savings mobilized in Financial Cooperatives are re-invested in the same community for the economic wellbeing of all people in that community. Cooperatives exist to provide benefits to members as opposed to profiteering.

 I strongly believe that it is because of these positive attributes of cooperatives on peoples’ lives that the United Nations has declared 2012 the International Year of Cooperatives under the theme “Cooperative Enterprises Build a Better World” Here at MUSCCO, we want to take full advantage of this declaration by highlighting our strengths and uniqueness as well as continuing to push for policies that will create an enabling environment for cooperatives to grow and flourish in our country.  Accordingly, our annual MUSCCO Leadership Forum will this year be held under the slogan “Our Time Has Come” Our time has come to demonstrate to the public that SACCOs and cooperatives in general are the most effective tools for fighting poverty; that SACCOs are organizations that are meant to benefit people and not benefit from people; that SACCOS foster the spirit of self reliance; that SACCOs inculcate in people the spirit of self help; that SACCOs are not just about the bottom line but more importantly about the economic and social wellbeing of people and that indeed SACCOs are schools of democracy. In cooperatives people come before profits. We measure our success by the extent to which our members’ lives change for the better. We are in the business of changing peoples’ lives for the better.

In this issue, you will read how SACCO members are benefiting from SACCOs and the many innovative things that SACCOs are engaged in to empower their members. MUSCCO in partnership with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and cooperative stakeholders will shortly release a schedule of planned activities to take place throughout the year showcasing and highlighting cooperatives achievements.  I urge you if you are a SACCO member and you would like to come forward and share your success stories to contact MUSCCO at your earliest convenience.

I wish you a Happy and rewarding International Year of Cooperatives.

Sylvester Kadzola