By Ireen Kayira
Lilongwe, March 29, Mana: Mzinda Savings and Credit Corporation (Sacco), a money borrowing and saving institution plans to extend its services to secondary school students so that they start saving at a younger age.
Mzinda Sacco President, Mphatso Nkuonera, confirmed the development in a telephone interview with Malawi News Agency (MANA) on Sunday.
He said Mzinda Sacco will be going in schools where they will be educating students on the importance of saving while at the same time encouraging them to save with the Sacco.
“What we want is to have a generation of people with a saving culture, because if they develop a spirit of saving they will be productive citizens and as such the country will grow,” he said.
He said the Sacco came up with the idea because it realised that it is hard for people these days to save money because they missed it while young as such it is the right step for a better future.
He added that while the Sacco wants the youth to be saving it also wants to empower women economically that have membership with the Sacco.
“We want more women to come and borrow money for businesses so that they can be able to fend for their families.
“They can come in groups or individually in both ways they will be able to access the loan for the business of their choice,” he said.
Mzinda Sacco plans to have an Annual General Meeting (AGM) on April 10 this year where among other things they will discuss how the Sacco has fared in 2020.
“This will be the least attended AGM where only 50 delegates will attend compared to last year where 100 delegates attended. This is because we are adhering to COVID-19 measures as put by government.
“It will include 13 member organisations so that we make decisions together as stakeholders as well as appreciate the progress and the shortfalls,” he said.
One of the Mzinda Sacco members, McDonald Salima, described the years he has been in Sacco as growing to which he has benefited as a member.
“The decision to entice secondary school students and support women with loans is the right move in the right directions,” he said.
