Infant Emyooga saccos from Kampala Rural Zone embarked on an exposure visit to best performing saccos in Tooro, with the aim of gaining insights and strategies to enhance their own growth and development.
During the visit, mentors from well-performing and mainstream SACCOs highlighted the importance of having strong and capable leadership within SACCOs.
Mastura Kabatalesa Kusemererwa, the manager of Busaiga Sacco emphasized the importance of good governance, stating that strong leadership is essential for the growth of any SACCO.
"One of the major things I see, most of the challenges rise from poor governance. So the moment the hearts of the governance body is right, the circle will go right if there is no selfishness," Kusemererwa said.
She noted that honesty and transparency are core values and driving forces. She encouraged the leaders to embrace transparency in their operations.
"Honesty and transparency are the core values, those values are the ones I prioritise and then this other working comes later, but the very first thing is the position of one's heart, are you self seeking or looking at developing lives."
Kusemererwa highlighted that Busaiga Sacco's transparency and honesty have enabled it to partner with the Microfinance Support Centre for 15 years.
She added that loans from MSC have helped expand their reach, allowing them to serve more members.
"We started working with MSC 15 years back, starting with a borrowing of around shs5 million and by today, we have been borrowing, up to shs200 million. So it has been a journey, but of all those loans we borrow and pay, and the beauty with those loans, how they have come in every time they gave us loans, they gave us an opportunity to enlarge our territory, to serve more members."
She advised the visiting sacco leaders against involving family members and friends in their sacos.
"Do not involve your relatives and friends in your saccos. For example, none of my friends are members of this sacco. I openly direct any interested friends to join other saccos to avoid conflicts of interest."
Emmanuel Mbogha, the MSC Zonal Manager for Kabarole, urged sacco leaders to hire staff but avoid employing their relatives.
"Employ a competent staff member rather than someone you cannot hold accountable in cases of mismanagement. Ensure that the person you hire is at least educated to the level of S4 and invest in their training to support your progress," he urged.