Mwalimu National Sacco defied social-economic pressures tied to the Covid-19 pandemic to grow deposits by seven percent in the year ended December 31, 2021.
Deposits at the teachers' savings scheme closed the financial year at Sh44.28 billion compared to Sh41.4 billion in the previous year.
Membership grew by over 2,000 to 106,602 from 104,544, despite most Saccos recording a high number of member exits.
Sacco's turnover during the period rose to Sh7.6 billion from Sh7.2 billion.
The number of those taking up credit facilities however dropped marginally as the economy slowly returned to normalcy, causing a drop in Sacco's loan portfolio.
The unaudited financial statement shows the amount in loans dropped to Sh37.8 billion during the year under review compared to Sh38.07 billion similar period in 2020.
Speaking during the Sacco's Annual General Meeting held at the Bomas of Kenya on Saturday, Mwalimu Sacco chairman John Onyango said the saving scheme is on the path to restoring its status as a market leader.
''Despite a tough operating environment marked by the negative effects of Covid-19, slow employment of teachers and freeze on their salary increments, the Sacco registered tremendous growth in membership, deposits and asset base,'' Onyango said.
He added that the success was made possible by concrete steps to streamline the business and cost optimisation through five Key Result Areas, namely: Business Growth; Customer Focus; Technologisation; Governance, Risk and Compliance enhancement; and efficient Human Capital management.
In the last year, Sacco introduced affordable products that meet our members’ evolving financial needs.
They include Ufanisi loan, waiver on commission on commercial loan buy-off, the roll-out of Kenya Mortgage Refinancing Loan, review of pro-rata, provision of advance against dividends and enhancement of the Wezesha loan from a previous upper limit of Sh600,000 to a borrower’s capacity.
Mwalimu topped deposit-taking (DT) saccos with the highest customer deposits up until 2017 before being dethroned by Stima and Police Saccos respectively.
Harambee Sacco which recently announced an increase in members' deposits to Sh22.5 billion in 2021 from Sh21.9 billion the previous year has also grown tremendously year on year.
It reported a membership of 74,274 and assets worth Sh34.6 billion as of December 31, 2021.
