At a young age of only twenty-three years, Rehema Atieno Onyango found herself at the helm of her institution as the Chief Executive Officer of Wevarsity Sacco upon sacco members’ demand to have her steer the society following her astonishing performance in her previous role.
In her previous capacity as assistant credit officer, Rehema directly interacted with over 80% of sacco members at a time when the society was facing liquidity problems where members couldn’t quickly and easily get loans. Her deliberate, dedicated and unwavering efforts to help members access loans whenever necessary despite sacco’s challenges won the hearts of many that when her former boss exited due to inept leadership and financial misconduct, both sacco members and board of directors didn’t hesitate having her occupy the top seat.
Before quickly hacking how to go about her new responsibilities, among the top challenges she faced as a young CEO was balancing the demanding lives of her new position and her personal life. Also, learning how to work together with the board, staff and sacco members for the betterment of Wevarsity Sacco was something she had to hurriedly learn.
In an interview with Sacco World Magazine, she appreciated both the board and the members for their trust, support, reassurance, nurturing and patience to lead the sacco to greater height.
“Wevarsity Sacco has grown since I took over. We have currently an active membership of over 2000 members, a total asset base of over ksh 550 million and our non-performing loans have significantly reduced from 33% when I took over to now only 4.2% as of December 2023,” she stated.
Since its establishment in 2003 where the sacco was serving only members of Wevarsity College, now Masinde Muliro University (MMUST), the society, she hinted, opened its common bond serving members as far as Turkana and Kibabi universities.
“Apart from Masinde Muliro University, we serve also Kakamega county staff, employees of both Kibabi and Turkana universities, farmers, and small, medium and macro-scale businesses,” she added.
Looking back at the tremendous milestones the sacco has so far achieved, Rehema prides herself most of how the society has incredibly improved its liquidity by constantly sensitizing and encouraging members to save with the sacco so as to get enough to lend.
“We requested members to do a 50% plough back of dividends and interests on deposits for three years beginning 2023-2025 and they agreed. This move, plus other measures that we have put in place will greatly enhance the sacco’s liquidity even further,” she assured.
Additionally, Wevarsity Sacco’s a hundred percent investment in technology and innovation is another major step that has significantly accelerated the institution’s growth. To efficiently and seamlessly render quality services to members, the CEO says the sacco has fully integrated technology with its services, eradicating completely the tedious processes that existed before.
A sacco application, a reliable and fully functioning sacco members’ portal, a dependable USSD Code among others have enormously facilitated mobile banking services, enabling members to continuously access services that immensely transform their lives and livelihoods.
Ensuring the sacco doesn’t slip back to its former times, the sacco has put in place internal control systems of how staff are being engaged, to what extent and the kind of rights they have in the sacco’s system. The measures make sure no one staff gets to process and approve a loan request without someone coming in between.
According to Rehema, her key leadership lessons that she has picked up over the years as a CEO are that leaders should be always available to serve members and the staff and should likewise be empathetic to understand members needs and respond to them accordingly.
She counsels young leaders like herself to use their positions to serve the people and not purloin wealth that doesn’t belong to them warning that, “Those entrusted with members’ funds should take home only what is rightfully theirs, and ensure funds are protected, in safe hands and used for right purpose so that members can benefit from their leadership.”
At twenty-seven years, Rehema Atieno Onyango, through her clear vision for the society, went on to raise Wevarsity Sacco members’ confidence through her success in the few years she’s been at the helm of the sacco leadership, and in return, she continues receiving incredible support from both members and the board.
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