Some money-savvy members of our team in Uganda have recently created a self help group to help save money and access loans which provide them with security and flexibility in their finances.
In April 2019, a forward-thinking group of 25 SFL employees established the School for Life Staff Help Group, Savings and Credit Cooperative Organization (SACCO) to enable staff to access pooled resources, loans and support from their peers.
Since 2019, the group has grown rapidly to now include 81 members, with any employee of School for Life able to join upon completion of their 3 month employment probationary period.
Members of the group pool their available funds into their joint bank account at Centenary Bank, and after completing 3 months of membership with the SACCO, members can access loans to the value of five times their savings. These loans accumulate an interest of 2% per month, and are to be repaid within 3 to 24 months. The loans are secured by other members of the group.
An emergency loan can also be accessed through SACCO, providing an individual member with a loan of up to 500,000 repayable within 3 months.
Currently, the groups’ joint bank account has 95.6 million Ugandan shillings - the equivalent of over $36,000 Australian dollars - accessible to its members through the groups’ loan process.
These funds are a vital source of financial security and flexibility for our team, and have already proved extremely useful to many members of the group.
Teacher Elisha was one of the pioneer members of the group. He says that the group has been invaluable to the teachers since its inception in April 2019.
“To me the SACCO does not only help the individual but it has also helped the organisation,” Elisha says.
“It has improved staff welfare through quick and affordable loans to the members.”
Already, Teacher Elisha has managed to fund his postgraduate studies, open a small pharmacy store, and build a house for his family using loans made available to him through the group.
Above: School for Life’s Teacher Elisha is a proud member of SACCO.
Many other staff have also benefited from the resources made accessible to them through SACCO.
Tailor Juliet joined the group this year, and has already taken out a loan that enabled her and her husband to purchase a plot of land in the nearby trading centre.
Meanwhile, Deo, who is a valued member of our kitchen department, has used the loans made available to him through his membership with the group to invest in his brick making business, and purchase a motorcycle which he uses to pick up additional work on the weekends.
Flavia, our Head Cook has also been able to use the support of SACCO to proceed with the construction of a three bedroom house in a nearby trading centre that she and her husband will rent out as an additional source of income.
We are so proud of the initiative and innovative thinking our team have displayed in the creation of SACCO - and we can’t wait to see what else they are able to achieve through the support of this fantastic initiative!
