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Ouganda
Andrew Lubega was
attached to Kasaali Farmers’ Cooperative Limited (KACFAN) in Kyotera district.
This was almost a
year after he graduated from Kyambogo University in Kampala, where he was
awarded a Bachelor’s degree in Micro Finance. Immediately after joining
Kasaali, he was exposed to practical skills in the areas of credit management,
report writing, communication, teamwork and mobilisation skills among others.
“I learnt how to
create a mutual understanding with clients to be able to recover loans from
them.
You don’t need to
be arrogant or too soft, the tone of your voice has to be balanced. When you
are too soft or rude, you may not recover loans from people,” he says.
The professionalism
he exhibited during the training prompted the organisation to retain him as its
first
Loans officer. The
SACCO gives loans to members during planting seasons, and they are expected to
pay back after they harvest coffee. Since he took on this task, SACCO’s share
capital has increased from Shs.
7, 810,000 to Shs.
14,780,000. The membership of the SACCO has also grown from 383 to 665 people,
most of whom are embracing borrowing to expand their farms.
On August 31, 2023,
for example, he received loan applications from eight coffee farmers, worth Shs.
65,200,000. His initiative
of encouraging farmers to borrow from the SACCO and pay back during harvesting
season, has saved them from middlemen exploitation.
“They were convincing
farmers to sell immature coffee at a much lower price. I encouraged those who needed
money to come for loans to allow the coffee cherries to mature before they
could sell them,” he says. Farmers could sell 10kgs of raw cherries at Shs.
10,000 yet the same quantity of ripe coffee cherries costs Shs. 50,000. “The
money was going to the pockets of middlemen,” he says.
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