MBARARA- The Uganda People’s Defence Forces [UPDF]’s Wazalendo Savings and Credit Cooperative Society Limited has opened a cash branch in Mbarara town to help its members access cash services in a conducive environment.
The cash branch opened on Friday at Bananuka Drive in Mbarara City will serve members of the UPDF 2nd Division Mbarara, 5 Division tactical headquarters, 206 Brigade SFC and any other member of Wazalendo across the country.
According to Col Joseph Freddy Onata, CEO Wazalendo SACCO, the drive to open opening cash branches outside the barracks started last year and so far five branches have been opened in different cities and towns.
“When we held the AGM in March 2022, members gave us a task of two years to study and prepare ourselves to open a common bond and the cash branches you see coming up are part of the plan,” he said.
“Opening the common bond means we shall be allowing other people other than us who are in uniform to join the SACCO and it is one way of growing our numbers,” he said.
“With these cash branches, we are going to aggressively market our business arm because some of our members are business people who will save beyond annual salaries,” Onata said.
He added that cash branches opened outside the barracks will allow regulators to comfortably supervise Wazalendo SACCO activities.
“These branches which are outside the barracks are the starting points to ensure that our regulators are not having restricted access because barracks have their own protocols,” he said.
Further, Onata said other SACCOs in the country would find it difficult to learn from Wazalendo SACCO if it remains operating within the barracks. “When we are outside, they [SACCOs] will just walk in and access the information they want and learn from us to become better SACCOs,” he said.
“Some of the SACCOs in the country are not doing well. I encourage the public to visit us and learn from us so that together we build a strong cooperative movement in Uganda,” said Onata.
Like any other SACCO in Uganda, Onata said Wazalendo is battling multiple regulations affecting the financial industry, calling upon apex bodies to intervene.
He appealed to army officers to utilise the cash branch opened in the heart of Mbarara City to attract more savings.
“The SACCO can easily close if the members refuse to save. We can assure you that going forward, we are going to study other areas to improve the quality of services we deliver to you.”
The director of operations of Wazalendo, Dr. William Atalyeba challenged the members to focus on savings rather than withdrawals and loans to grow the SACCOs’ liquidity preference.
Lt Col Allan Kitanda, vice chairman board of governors was worried whether Wazalendo will be able to sustain its tremendous growth.
“Right now we are celebrating the milestone we have achieved but our biggest challenge is how do we maintain ourselves up there? How do we go beyond the 17 years? After a century will people still be celebrating Wazalendo’s existence when we are long gone? Shall we be heroes or many will say it went with us?” He said.
Kitanda said Wazalendo has grown to the point of being able to lend to government. We can internally loan government and undertake ventures because this is the potential that we now hold,” he said.
He encouraged the Wazalendo SACCO board to support the ongoing processes geared towards reviving the Cooperative Bank.
“Recently our counterparts from the Ministry of Trade invited us to look at the possibility of establishing a cooperative bank. And of course, they agree that without Wazalendo SACCO, the inquisition becomes incomplete. We should fully support it as stakeholders,” Kitanda said.
The chief guest, Maj. Gen. Francis Takirwa, deputy commander land forces, and the outgoing 2nd division commander challenged Wazalendo SACCO to invest in national research.
“Wazalendo can be a better department to fund research activities for the government because others would want to put conditions because they are serving their masters’ interests, but humanity is for us all,” he said.
He added: “Let’s give loans to banks as we continue saving. When this money goes out it will be fetching us some… profits which will come back to our accounts as dividends.”
Wazalendo SACCO
Wazalendo Sacco, which was launched in September 2005, has grown to become the largest SACCO in the country.
Currently, Wazalendo SACCO boasts of share capital of Shs 223.2 billion, savings of Shs 326.9bln, total assets of Shs 742.2bln, a loan portfolio of Shs 612bln, and a total membership of over 90,000.
Since disbursing its first loan in November 2007, a total of Shs 2 trillion has been extended to its members in both consumptive and development loans.
Wazalendo SACCO has a total of 19 branches out of which five are running cash branches outside the barracks in the districts of Entebbe, Kampala, Moroto, Gulu, and Mbarara.
https://thecooperator.news/wsacco-ready-to-spend-heavily-on-supplies/
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