By Andrew Masinde and Precious Birungi

Ntunda is a remote village deep in Mukono district. People in this area are uneducated and live a simple unsophisticated life. However, the residents now boast of a bank in their area thanks to the efforts of Betty Nakyanzi, the head teacher of a local primary school.

Prior to setting up the bank, people used to keep their money under their mattresses. As a result, there was reckless spending, no investment and no saving.

Men spent the money on alcohol, leaving their families to starve. Until 2006 when the area LC3 councillor talked of the benefits of SACCOs, many people had never heard of such a project. It was people like Nakyanzi who welcomed the idea and tried it out.

Fifty-three-year-old Nakyanzi gathered women in her area to start up a women’s, group to prove if the councillor’s words were true.

Since she owned a primary school in the area, people trusted her and attended the meetings. On the fi rst day, 20 women turned up and since then, Nakyanzi has never looked back.

During the meetings, she asked the women to bring some money to kick-start the project. She explained to them how the money contributed would benefit them.

“At first, people were hesitant so I brought people from other SACCOs to share testimonies of how they had benefited. People soon picked interest and started bringing sh5,000 whenever they attended the meeting.

“As they realised the benefits of saving, they increased the amount of money they saved from sh5,000 to sh10,000.

This made me realise that people had the money, but had nowhere to keep it. It is then that I proposed that we start our own village SACCO, to which the members agreed,” Nakyanzi says.

Since members were from different villages around Sezibwa River, they named it the Sezibwa Rural Enterprise Cooperative Society (SEREC).

The group set up their headquarters in Ntunda subcounty, in Mukono district. Although the project had kicked off, the money collected was too little to allow the members to start borrowing. Nakyanzi advised them to buy shares in order to help the SACCO get more money.

“Initially, the members thought sh10,000 was enough to keep the SACCO growing yet we were renting the house where we were operating.

“When I asked the members to increase their contributions, the response was overwhelming. People brought huge sums of money to buy shares saying they were tired of keeping money in their houses.

The SACCO was primarily for women, but men later asked to join, giving a big boost to the group as many had money they were keeping under their beds,” Nakyanzi says.

The SACCO allows people to keep money on fixed deposit accounts and at the end of every year, the members with shares and fixed deposit accounts share profits and dividends.

Testimonies

“I used to keep my money in my house because there were no banks in the area. It was not until SEREC was introduced that I learnt about alternative places where one can keep their money. Nakyanzi approached me to join and told me the benefits of SACCO but I was hesitant at first. I later joined,” Resty Nakintu, a beneficiary says.

I asked for a loan and opened up a shop. It is growing fast and soon I will make it a wholesale shop. I take a bigger responsibility in my home like providing the necessities.

I have bought land using proceeds from the shop and I plan to build some houses for rent,” Nakintu adds. When the money increased, the group started the loan scheme, where members are allowed to borrow to start up development projects.

At first, the group trusted the members, but many used the money for non-developmental projects, leading to a setback in the group’s plans.

Nakyanzi made a constitution, which members had to follow and they made strict rules for members who borrowed money.

She also introduced a supervision process where she assigned people to supervise the projects set up from money borrowed from the group.

The members now have developmental projects of their own and are kicking poverty out of their homes. Aliseni Kulingoma was reluctant to join the SACCO, as he never trusted anyone with his money. He felt it was safer in his metallic safe at his home.

“When they explained to me how dangerous it was to keep money in the house, I was convinced and joined the SACCO,” Kulingoma says.

FACT FILE

Nominee: Betty Nakyanzi

Innovation: Sezibwa Rural Enterprise Cooperative Society

Quote: “Members increased the amount of money they saved from sh5,000 to sh10,000. This made me realise that people had the money, but had nowhere to keep it. It is then that I proposed that we start our own village SACCO which members agreed.”

Contact: +256-772685117