The Kenya Cooperative movement, though leading in Africa and being among the top five in the world in terms of membership and deposits, is yet to deepen its presence in other sectors of the economy.
CIC Insurance Group Chairman Nelson Kuria, however, says that the cooperative societies in the country have made strong strides, mainly in financial deepening, especially in serving customers outside the mainstream financial ecosystem. "Our cooperative movement is thriving well on the continent and globally.
Recently controlling more than Sh1 trillion worth of assets and very healthy loan books in addition to controlling more than 30 per cent of the national savings," he said.
Kuria, who was giving a talk to cooperative leaders on 'making cooperatives work' during a Cooperative Alliance of Kenya (CAK) forum on the Ethical Leadership and Governance Forum for Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs), noted that the movement has also succeeded in the development of human capital as well as creating rural wealth. "All this can be attributed to the vision initiated by the pioneer fathers and maintenance of the same by the succeeding leaders, but despite SACCOs thriving in enhancing financial deepening for income earners, competition in the market segment has been increasing as commercial banks have equally developed products targeting the small earners.
