Umwalimu SACCO is organizing direct meetings with its members at sector level across different districts in order to sensitize and educate them on its products and services. This outreach program is set to be done in phases during the weekend days and this year’s phase started from last Saturday 04th November up to 02nd December 2023.
Umwalimu SACCO was used to meet its members at their respective schools to educate and explain to them the services provided by the cooperative but it was noticed that meeting them at schools during the break hours does not allow meeting with a big number of members altogether and doesn’t provide enough time to properly explain to them the services offered by their cooperative, yet they need to understand in depth the benefits and requirements of services provided by Umwalimu SACCO in order to take advantage of them and improve their livelihoods.
This outreach program serves as a unique platform for Umwalimu SACCO to meet face-to-face with many members altogether and discuss with them about the benefits and requirements of Umwalimu SACCO’s products and services, challenges and barriers that members face while acquiring different products and services of the cooperative as well as suggestions on how to improve the service delivery.
“We decided to organize this outreach program of meeting members at sector level because we noticed that despite meeting them at their respective school, there is still a gap in the sensitization of schools and members on different products offered by Umwalimu SACCO. This outreach program at sector level will help us to meet with a large number of members altogether and provide to them the same information. We want to improve members’ financial literacy as well as their awareness of the cooperative’s products mostly the new ones“ said the Director General of Umwalimu SACCO Ms. Laurence UWAMBAJE.
“We will use this opportunity to provide financial education to members and encourage them to embrace the culture of savings as a foundation stone to achieve their future financial stability” she added.
For this year’s round, the outreach campaign will be done in 10 districts including Kirehe, Nyabihu, Ngororero, Gisagara, Bugesera, Gakenke, Muhanga, Rusizi, Gatsibo and Huye Districts and such events are being held on two identified sites in each district. The cooperative is expecting to meet at least 9,719 teachers across the 10 districts.
The outreach campaign in the above-mentioned 10 Districts is planned to be done in 4 rounds on different dates as follows :
The first round covering Kirehe, Nyabihu and Ngororero districts took place today 04th November 2023.
The second round covering Gisagara, Bugesera and Gakenke districts will take place on Saturday 11th November 2023.
The third round covering Muhanga, Rusizi and Gatsibo districts will take place on Saturday 18th November 2023.
The fourth round covering Huye district will take place on Saturday 02nd December 2023.
In today’s banking and financial services market, a customer must be at the center of everything. It is in this regard that Umwalimu SACCO has decided to use the customer/Member’s outreach as an efficient method that allows the cooperative to directly communicate with its members to know and respond to their needs as well as strengthen relationships with them.
“We are inviting the cooperative’s members to give us feedback and suggestions especially on how we can better serve them because we are committed to build on members expectations in order to meet our main goal which is no other than members’ satisfaction” Ms. UWAMBAJE noted.
During this outreach program, Umwalimu SACCO is willing to strengthen relations between the cooperative and members by putting a light on the following key areas:
Respond to members’ inquiries about products and services offered by Umwalimu SACCO;
Give teachers an opportunity to provide their feedback and suggestions on how the service delivery should continuously be improved;
Educate members about the culture of savings and its benefits;
Sensitize members to make regular savings from the income they get from their respective income-generating projects and make regular deposits on their accounts opened in Umwalimu SACCO;
Inform members about GIRA IWAWE mortgage loan, a new product that was recently launched and other new digital services that was recently launched such as E-Tax Payment system, Internet Banking and Mobile App, etc;
Umwalimu SACCO is a Savings and Credit Cooperative for the Rwandan Teachers founded in 2006 and licensed by the National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) on February 22nd, 2008. The institution’s core activities are savings mobilization and lending to members at competitive rates.
Members of Umwalimu SACCO are teachers in public and private schools based in the country and employees in the Education Sector. So far, Umwalimu SACCO has over 155,000 members across the country.
Umwalimu SACCO strives to improve the welfare of its members. Umwalimu SACCO Mission is to improve members’ welfare through provision of appropriate, innovative, affordable and accessible financial services. Umwalimu SACCO’s Vision is to be a Model SACCO in the country, offering high quality, yet affordable financial services to its members.
Umwalimu SACCO’s Headquarters is located in the City of Kigali, Gasabo District. Umwalimu SACCO has 1 branch across each District, totaling 30 branches across the country. (End)