By Daniel Zimba:
Minister of Trade Sosten Gwengwe has commended Savings and Credit Cooperatives (Sacco) for their role in addressing members financial needs.
Gwengwe was speaking at the African Confederation of Cooperative Savings and Credit Associations (Accsca) 2025 conference in Blantyre on Wednesday.
He said the government’s ultimate goal is to ensure citizens’ financial security.
“We believe that what Saccos are doing goes a long way towards achieving Malawi 2063 aspirations,” Gwengwe said.
Reserve Bank of Malawi Director of Capital Markets and Microfinance Supervision Khumbo Ntalika hailed the compliance of Saccos in the country to the bank’s regulations and requirements in the sector.
Ntalika asked the Sacco to consider accommodating players in the informal sector such as the village bank groups into their initiatives by raising awareness about the savings and creating friendly services within their (people) reach across the country.
Statistics from the Malawi Union of Savings and Credit Cooperative (Musco), Sacco has already reached out to about 300,000 people in the country.
Musco Chief Executive Officer Fumbani Nyangulu said the union aims to achieve one million membership in the by 2030 in the country.
Nyangulu described their growth in the country as slow, attributing it to lack of awareness and trust by many people in the country, but he said they are working to address the problem.
He said the Musco assured that Musco is ready to extend their services and even establish their own banks as the minister proposed, saying they will plan the ways forward on the matter. On the other hand, Accosca Executive Director George Ombado said the conference followed the declaration of the year 2025 as the year of cooperatives by the United Nations.
The conference was also held as part of their celebrations for their 70 years of operations in Africa, striving to support community developments through financial savings and credit services.
“We are encouraging people that save and spend wisely the little that you have and Sacco is your option because we have competitive services,” Ombado said.
He further commended the coordination between Sacco and local stakeholders in the country including government, which he said makes the country unique in performance compared to Saccos in other African countries.
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