By Moses Adongo
Marking its silver Jubilee to commemorate 25 years since it was established, Savings and credit firm Unaitas has today opened its 25th branch in Kisumu City in a move to leverage on the new lending and membership opportunities.
The ceremony that was graced by former Prime Minister Rt Hon Raila Odinga, comes just a few days after the institution opened their doors in Kisii and Meru.
The former Prime Minister while giving his address, challenged the locals to grab the opportunity brought to the lakeside city by the Sacco to improve on their living standards.
Hon Odinga had over the weekend hosted Unaitas board members for breakfast at his Opoda farm in Bondo before the opening of the Kisumu branch.
During the meeting, the cooperative’s public relations and customer care officer Sam Otieno revealed that the Kisumu branch had been operational for two months before its launch.
He further revealed that the institution was determined to open up more branches in Nyanza, Western, Eastern and the Coast regions as it seeks to sustain momentum to extend its footprints across the country.
“In this region, we shall partner with local saccos to empower them financially. Fish farmers and fishermen who have been exploited by middlemen will benefit from our products,” said Otieno.
The Sacco’s CEO Tony Mwangi promised to ensure regular training programs are organized for the people of Kisumu and its environs to aid the transformation of the local ‘chamas’ into investment groups.
The Sacco was first launched in 1993 as Murang’a Tea Growers Association before it changed its name to Muramati in 2007, it later re-branded in 2012 to Unaitas.
It currently has 400,000 members locally, from USA, Asia and Europe with the diaspora making 16% of total membership.
Since its inception, the society has grown tremendously disbursing Sh2 billion in loans to over 5,000 ‘chamas’ last year alone.
