Beatrice Kisanya is a director of-and among the founders of Finmat Sacco Limited, registered under the Co-operative Societies Act of the Laws of Kenya as a limited liability society.
The Sacco was founded in 2018 as a Financial Matters Welfare of 30 former bankers.
Here is story of how the Sacco was founded as told by WoK.
Background
Beatrice Kisanya attended Pangani Girls High School for her secondary school education. She joined Kenyatta University where she graduated in 1997 with Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Business Studies.
She also holds Credit Skills Certifications (CSAP, CLSB and BLF). She began her career in May 2007 as service Manager at Standard Chartered Bank. In October 2010 she became a Credit Analyst at the bank, a position she held until July 2012.
A month, she was promoted to relationship manager –SME, Sameer Branch for one year and 8 months. In April 2014 she was promoted to commercial banking relationship manager, a position she held until October 2017 when she officially left the banking industry after a successful career spanning 15 years.
Establishing Finmat Sacco
Beatrice Kisanya serves as the Credit Director and is among the founding members of Finmat Sacco Limited. During a past interview with the Daily Nation, Beatrice revealed that the Sacco started in 2018 as a Financial Matters Wellfare of 30 former bankers.
“We wanted to have a kitty for our members to borrow from and empower 100,000 people to be financially independent within five years. As we started out, we realized that the majority of our clientele would ask us ‘What next?’ Access to capital was a huge challenge. In 2019, we decided to convert into a Sacco.” She said.
The members of the Sacco make their savings based on their cash flows. For example, a boda boda member may do daily savings, a shop owner weekly and a student or employee monthly.
At first, they allowed members to save based on their knowledge but with time they realized that not all members have saving discipline. This what informed their decision to come up with a savings plan to help their members based on their financial strengths.
Success
They started the Sacco with Ksh 2 million as seed capital which has since grown its membership to over 1,200 people. It holds assets worth over Ksh 25 million with a significant presence in six counties including Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Kajiado, Trans-Nzoia and Migori.
The Sacco is regulated by the Ministry of Cooperatives and are members of the Umbrella body for Saccos dubbed ‘KUSCCO.’
According to Beatrice, the Sacco’s main aim is to transform the lives of its members in the smallest ways possible.
“We had a client who bakes small cakes. Initially, she would only do about two packets of wheat flour daily. With our financing, she is currently doing 15 bales of wheat flour per day and has employed over 12 people to bake and supply. Another of our members has grown from small hatchery business to one with a capacity to incubate over 500 eggs at a go,” she told the publication.
“There is power in saving a portion of your money no matter how little or big you earn. One phrase comes to mind; it’s really not about how much you make, but how much you save and invest that makes a difference. Start where you are or better still use what you have. Start paying yourself from your pay and start saving for investments,” she added.
