Murang’a-based Amica Sacco has announced a 54 per cent growth in its net income for 2020, shrugging off the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic.
On Friday, the Sacco announced that it would issue dividends amounting to Sh170 million. It will pay between six and 10 per cent for members’ non-withdrawable deposits and between five and nine per cent for deposits in its affiliate real estate agency, Amica Ventures. A further 5 per cent would be paid out for shares.
Sacco CEO James Mbui said the firm managed the growth after reinventing its products and managing its expenditure.
Mbui noted that the rural economy was not as badly hit by the pandemic and that branches in rural towns thrived while those in urban areas suffered.
The Sacco also registered a 26 per cent growth in its revenue. It increased its agents from 50 at the beginning of the year to over 300 and they were able to transact about Sh1 billion, serving over 80,000 members.
“We also introduced membership cards that our clients could use to travel and shop, making it easier for them to operate during the pandemic,” he said.
Sacco chairperson Nelson Muchiri on his part appealed to the national government to allow Kenyans to trade with it through Saccos.
Currently, civil servants and entrepreneurs are paid through banks, locking Saccos out yet they are regulated by the Sacco Society Regulatory Authority, he said.
Muchiri further urged the government to ensure they put more focus on coffee production as it fights to streamline the sector.
“Murang’a has one of the lowest coffee productions in the Central region. Let farmers be trained on boosting their income so they can earn more,” he said.
He further noted that the decision by the government to buy farmers’ coffee direct through KPCU will in the long term devastate local institutions that have been working with farmers for decades.
“The government seems to be bringing down co-operatives by paying farmers directly,” he said.
It is even more devastating that coffee co-operative societies’ officials are required to approve farmers’ application for loans from the Cherry Advance Revolving Fund, he said.
Ezra Kinyua, Kahuhia Coffee Co-operative Society chairperson said the requirement by the government to reduce societies’ operation costs to five per cent is outrageous.
He said his society has been deducting about 20 per cent of farmers’ earnings to pay its workers, buy inputs and maintain factories.
Now that the operations costs have been capped at 5 per cent, many societies may be unable to operate and farmers may soon be required to process their own coffee.
“Many factories are just getting rehabilitated. If things do not change, we will be returning this sector decades ago when farmers had to work in factories to process their coffee,” he said.
