Sometime in the autumn of 1974, a small group of Unilever (Then East Africa Industries Ltd {EAI}) factory workers whirled away their mid-morning break over a cup of tea. They mulled over their life challenges mostly revolving around personal financial needs. Yet at that time of the month they wouldn… read more’t access any salary advance from the HR department and their money lender wouldn’t consider them for a second loan until the first one was repaid. They were concerned that they could no longer meet the rising cost of living against ‘flat pay slips’. There were a myriad of bills to be settled and yet end month seemed an eternity. But wait! Someone had an idea. They could form a savings scheme to collect individual savings and advance loans from the pool. And voila! Kimbo Sacco was born!
The objective of the society was to create a vehicle to promote a savings culture among the employees of Unilever and to lend out short term micro loans to the members for personal development, school fees and medical expenses.
The society was registered and lived under the name Kimbo Sacco until October 2003 when we acquired our current name Maisha Bora Sacco after the sale of Kimbo brand by Unilever. This development further created an opportunity for the Sacco to broaden the common bond to accommodate members outside our traditional bond of Unilever and Research International. The change of name also reflected the diversity in our membership further leveraging the strategic direction to grow the Sacco.
Over the years the society has grown from strength to strength to become a commercially autonomous, democratically controlled and self-reliant business enterprise. This is due to the support received from our members and other stakeholders at large. Currently, our asset base stands at 2.08 billion; our loan portfolio is 1.8 billion. The assets are supported by member deposits of 1.7 billion, share capital of 101 million and other liabilities. The Sacco has also experienced growth is staff numbers and professional experience.
VISION:-
“To be the preferred financial services provider in the region ”
MISSION:-
“Transforming lives through innovative financial solutions”
CORE VALUES:-
To facilitate and support the achievement of the vision and mission, the following values shall guide operations, behavior and building of the organizational culture. In the conduct of its affairs, the Board Members, Employees and other stakeholders of Maisha Bora SACCO shall embrace the following values:
Team Work: “We recognize that teamwork is a crucial part of our business as it is necessary for us to work well together. We make deliberate effort to collaboratively work together to achieve our goals. We cooperate and use our individual skills and provide constructive feedback while recognizing our differences as individuals.”
Integrity: “We strive to be transparent and accountable in all areas of our operations. We appreciate and reward exemplary services at all times by promoting accountability by encouraging openness and fairness to one another and among all stakeholders.”
Stakeholder Responsibility: ” Maisha Bora SACCO is a responsible partner. We strive to enhance Corporate Social Responsibility through sustainable programs that benefit our members’ lives and their communities. This means giving back to the local communities and being environmentally conscious. This we achieve through advancing loans for our members to acquire water harvesting tanks, Eco-loos, solar lighting solutions and energy saving cook stoves.. We have also created an environment where all stakeholders share in the decision making. We recognize the benefits of synergy. We strive to create partnerships through team spirit that supports each other as we perform different functions to achieve a common goal.”
Professionalism: “In our effort to enhance professional competence and provide high quality services, we uphold the right skills, competences and behaviors’ among our employees. We seek to attract and retain qualified staff as well as provide quality training to our staff to bridge assessed knowledge gaps and consequently increase their competency levels.”
High performance culture: “Achieving sustainable growth requires commitment from the whole SACCO to build a culture that can adapt to ongoing changes in a competitive environment. We endeavor to identify and act on opportunities for positive change.The SACCO Board and management create a high-performance culture by setting clear expectations, defining employees’ roles, creating a trusting environment, and encouraging employees’ growth and development.”