CORPORATE SCENE
Introduction
Stima Sacco was established in 1974 to serve employees of the then East African Power & Lighting Company ( presently Kenya Power ). Currently it is open to all Kenyans and persons working in Kenya .
Stima Sacco is one of the leading and fastest growing and licensed DTS ( Deposit Taking Sacco ) with an asset base of KES . 46.5 billion , a loan book of KES . 36.4 billion , and membership of over 154,308 derived from all sectors of the Kenyan Economy .
Marketing Africa columnist Richard Wanjohi engaged the CEO Dr . Gamaliel Hassan ( PhD ) who shared insights into what Stima Sacco has been up to and what the future holds for the organization . Here-under are excerpts .
In the past two years , Stima Sacco has performed exceptionally well despite challenges occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic . What 3 highlights can you attribute this to ?
Thank you for allowing me to talk about this great organization . Indeed , the pandemic resulted in a number of business challenges and ours was no exception . The sudden closure of the economy meant that we had to quickly identify ways of delivering the services to our customers since our line of business is largely a physical , faceto-face means of interacting with members and customers .
Directly , we had a few members and employees who we lost in the last two years . The loss of members and the tragedy visited upon their dependents was not easy to navigate but we assisted as best as we could .
Indirectly our banking and financial services had to change since we were not able to get members to visit our branches for several months . We had to quickly pivot to our mobile and online platforms which assisted us continue offering seamless services . Through our M-Pawa , we were able to provide credit facilities to members faster and affordably . M-Pawa has also helped us cast a wider net to the younger members who are more mobile savvy . It has also meant we have to be more innovative , adding more offerings to the menu of services offered on the platform . The internet banking portal which had been largely under-utilized was revamped to ease the access to members and to allow quicker access to services such as statements , dividends , deposits and withdrawal services .
A run-on deposits and savings that was anticipated did not happen , enabling the Sacco to maintain a healthy balance sheet . There were more savings and a good number of individuals entrusted us with their funds as a haven .
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A review of the business continuity plan had us asking ourselves are we able to sustain the commercial aspects and remain relevant to our members ? If so , how can we do this at a fair cost and ensure we maintain profitability and draw earnings for our members ? So how were we able to do this ? Using :
Technology : Virtual internal meetings became the norm as we had piloted an internal platform to help manage the team . This helped bring cohesion and regular check-ins on the individuals and departments . Using technology we reduced the number of processes , visitations to branches , enhancing our omni-channels such as the mobile , internet and agency banking .
Commitment from Management , Staff and Board : Like a three-legged stool , each of these played a role in our stability during the period . The support and quick decision making of the management , to the nimble , hard-working , and understanding staff , we managed to steady the Stima Sacco ship . The Board was and has been heavily invested in our progress and offered direction and oversight role that it plays well .
Membership : The loyalty of our members meant we had little to no attrition in the period . While we had a few defaulters , we offered a moratorium of Kes . 1 billion which was reduced as the impact of the pandemic eased off with the opening of the economy . A good number of members supported our developments by saving more and investing in the different products on offer , steadying the growth . In addition , we were able to recruit over 10,000 new members into the Sacco in the same period , emphasizing our capability to appeal to different individuals and body corporates .
As one of the organizations identified as ‘ essential services ’ ours became critical for members looking for emergency funding , rich dividends , and earnings as well as opportunities to save and invest .
The Sacco crafted a five-year plan in 2019-2024 . What are the current milestones and achievements this far ?
In 2019 , we developed an ambitious 5-year plan dubbed Stima 2.0 . It was a roadmap to guide the Sacco on what areas to focus on and reinvent ourselves from being not just a savings and credit organization but one with financial solutions and tools that both our individual and corporate members can enjoy .
As of December 2021 , we had 99.3 % of the annual revenue target achieved for the year 2020-2021 , against a reasonable performance of 95 % in 2019-2020 . Of course , the latter was affected by the pandemic which shows the resilience and stability with which we have managed to maintain .
The Sacco has been able to grow its overall assets to over 45 billion within the 3-year period . The growth can be attributed
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