Kenya North America Diaspora Sacco Secretary General Maryanne
Kamau-Goetz during the sacco's Annual General Meeting in Los Angeles,
California, on March 25, 2018. PHOTO | CHRIS WAMALWA | NATION MEDIA
GROUP
in DELAWARE, USA
Even though
savings and credit societies in Kenya have for a long time, been among
the leading sources of co-operative credit, this movement was largely
absent within the Kenyan diaspora community until recently.
This
was in spite of the fact that Kenyans living abroad are among a section
of the Kenyan community that has some disposable income that they
wished to invest at home. In the last two decades, Kenyans living abroad
have been investing heavily at home, especially in real estate.
“One
of the priorities for many Kenyans living abroad is to invest back home
especially in real estate. Even though most of us are successful here
in diaspora, we harbour the dream of retiring back home that’s why we
each desire to build retirement home back in Kenya,” said Maryanne
Kamau-Goetz, the Secretary-General of Kenya North America Diaspora Sacco
(K-NADS).
Kamau-Goetz, a founder member of the
recently launched K-NADS, a sacco that is strictly for women living in
North America and diaspora returnees, says that one of the best things
that has happened recently that will spur investments in Kenya is the
registration of saccos targeting the diaspora.
REGISTERED SACCOS
“K-NADS
started registering members last year and by the time we were holding
our first Annual General Meeting in Los Angeles in March, our membership
stood at close to 800,” she said.
But, though one of
the fast growing Saccos in diaspora, K-NADS is by no means the only
sacco that is registered in the diaspora. According to estimates, there
are close to ten registered Saccos – three in the US, one in the Middle
East and several in Europe.
In 2012, the first diaspora
Sacco, the Kenya USA Diaspora Sacco was registered after long and
protracted negotiations with the Kenya government, an entity that has
always been slow at recognizing and understanding the needs of the
Diaspora.
“The
Kenya USA Sacco was born out of needs and circumstances that Kenyans in
the USA encountered including, the inability to borrow locally (Kenya)
due to stringent financial and cost prohibitive requirements by banks,”
said Mr David Wanjiru, Treasurer, Kenya USA Diaspora Sacco.
BORROWING
Mr
Wanjiru says that, apart from unreasonable demands and requirements for
borrowing by leading commercial banks in Kenya, members of the diaspora
also complained incessantly about the fact that a good number of those
who had tried to invest in Kenya had in fact been conned by relatives
and friends back home.
“Lack of unreliable means and
mechanisms for investing money in Kenya and the limited control and
accountability for individual’s investments and monies was also a very
big impediment,” he said.
This in fact, is one impediment that Ms Kamau-Goetz understands very well because it’s what led to the birth of their sacco.
“Kenya
women in diaspora have various formal and informal organized groups.
Many ideas come out of these groups and are either transformed into
social, economic, investment, or even non-profit groups. Other ideas die
as early as they are formed. In July 2016, one a member came up with a
challenge to the Kenyan women in diaspora to start investing together.
Seven women took up the challenge and mobilised others to come up with
the best way to make this challenge a reality,” she said.
CONFERENCE
Ms
Kamau-Goetz says that the women held conference calls and many lengthy
WhatsApp discussions with ladies from many different States including
Canada sharing challenges they faced while trying to invest at home. “It
was clear that many of us Kenyan Women living in the diaspora faced
many similar challenges as we try to invest our hard-earned money in
Kenya,” she added.
Ms Kamau-Goetz says that some the
challenges the women faced in trying to invest at home were such as
purchasing of property and acquiring of loans.
“Most
members said that they were having challenges purchasing properties
through relatives as they got swindled and lost their hard-earned
dollars,” she said.
She added that other members had
indicated that even though they held bank accounts with banks in Kenya,
they were being denied loans on the pretext that they lacked income or
collateral in Kenya despite their being gainfully employment in the US.
Ms Kamau-Goetz said that single women, either due to divorce or the
death of a spouse particularly faced unique challenges while to invest
in Kenya.
ELDERLY
She
added that there was a big population of unbanked elderly Kenyans women
in the diaspora. These are women who have come to help take care of
their grandchildren and end up being nannies to the community children.
They do not have ways to bank money in the US for instance so they remit
it to Kenya through relatives. She says that, many of them have lost
their savings through relatives or unscrupulous investors they have
entrusted with their monies.
On the other hand, Mr
Wanjiru says that since 2012, the USA Diaspora Sacco has taken
tremendous strides in supporting members with their development and
investment needs in Kenya. “From occasional needs to long-term goals,
the Sacco products have been designed to meet their unique needs,
promoting their financial well-being, while helping with nation
building,” he said.
He says that since then, the sacco
has provided the membership with access to various investments
including the most recent undertaking – the Fadhili Homes Project
located on Kangundo Road, Nairobi.
CONSTRUCTION
It
comprises 240 home units currently in various construction stages, with
67 already bought by the members. The project has been fully funded by
the sacco with a disbursement of Sh90 million.
In
2015/2016, the sacco initiated its first real estate property project
(still active) at Isinya Konza, where members bought over 250 land
plots.
The sacco has an office based in Nairobi that
support the membership at large. In addition, the Sacco provides for
electronic online services that assist the members with managing their
account finances and investment decisions in Kenya. The Sacco membership
currently stands at about 1,500 and has been growing steadily over the
course last few years.
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