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Kenya government endorses SACCOTech Forum
Kenya’s State Department Ministry of Trade and Cooperatives has endorsed the forthcoming SACCOTech Forum terming it – a big a…
Kenya’s State Department Ministry of Trade and Cooperatives has endorsed the forthcoming SACCOTech Forum terming it – a big a step towards innovation and inclusiveness in accelerating SACCOs growth lined to spur socio-economic development.
Ali Ismail, Ali Ismail, Principal Secretary in The State Department of Cooperatives – Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives said the Government technology’s passion is helping spread best practices and spurring innovation in the public sector adding: “It is against this reason that the Government is most obliged to support and endorse SACCOTech as a timely initiative for the SACCO sector.”
The forum bringing together an average of 300 delegates, comprising Heads of ICT, CIOs, CEOs and top line managers from deposit-taking SACCOs is purposed to explore how innovation can strengthen and catalyze the growth of SACCOs in the quest of harnessing socio-economic development.
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CLICK HERE TO REGISTER, https://events.cio.co.ke/event/east-africa-saccotech-forum/
Organized by CIO East Africa, in conjunction with Africa eDevelopment, the premier SACCOTECH Forum themed: Harnessing Technology in SACCOs for Socio-Economic Development comes on the wake of the growth trajectory gained by deposit-taking Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs).
According to key financial growth parameters, the growth of SACCOs has in the overall been appealing over the years. With total assets increasing to Ksh 442.27 billion in 2017, it reflected a growth rate of 12.4 percent from the previous year.
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“The question is; Can the SACCOs do better? Certainly. They can,” quipped Laura Chite – CEO, CIO East Africa stressing: “Well, unlike in varied financial services industry, the growth of SACCOs has happened with very little technological interventions in this era of digital transformation. SACCOs therefore have a great opportunity to spur the growth of Kenya’s economy.”
While affirming government’s commitment in the deliberate journey of digitization the Principal Secretary further noted that SACCOs have a great opportunity to spur national growth.
Digital payment solutions have been gaining considerable momentum. According to the government it is evident that it has positive social impact as it lowers the cost of transactions to expand access to, and uptake of digitally-based financial tools and services. Digitizing payments also presents an opportunity for governments to realize significant financial rewards, boosting growth, increasing revenues and lowering incidences of fraud, and increasing efficiencies.
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The growth of digital payments in Kenya has been impressive; however, the benefits of modern electronic payments (save for M-Pesa which has made incredible leaps) are yet to reach all sections of society.
With digitized SACCOs, Kenya’s payment system may be more advanced than other countries in the region owing to the progress the country has made in making payments electronically viable, sustained momentum of improved interoperability through steady implementation of comprehensive policy and regulatory framework for digital payments and improved Internet penetration.
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER, https://events.cio.co.ke/event/east-africa-saccotech-forum/