Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisations (SACCOs) are playing a critical role in advancing financial inclusion, poverty reduction and inclusive economic growth by providing affordable and dignified financial services to underserved workers, a Government official has said.
Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Deputy Minister Kiven Mutimbanyoka said this during a visit to the Municipality of Harare SACCO on Thursday.
Deputy Minister Mutimbanyoka said cooperatives were no longer just financial institutions but community-based platforms that were transforming livelihoods through collective effort and mutual support.
“You have not just built a financial institution but a financial home. You have demystified the intimidating world of finance for municipal workers,” he said.
He said SACCOs were enhancing the national financial inclusion agenda by offering savings, loans, investment opportunities and financial literacy programmes tailored to the needs of their members.
“The SACCO is enhancing the financial inclusion agenda by providing savings, loans, investments and financial literacy programmes to your members. In doing so, you have turned abstract concepts of banking into tangible tools for personal and family advancement,” he said.
He said the work being carried out by cooperatives directly supported the National Development Strategy (NDS), which seeks to transform Zimbabwe into an empowered and prosperous upper-middle-income society by 2030.
“A critical pillar of this vision is financial inclusion — the mission to ensure that every citizen has access to affordable, dignified financial services. SACCOs like yours are indispensable in this mission,” said Deputy Minister Mutimbanyoka.
He said by mobilising domestic savings and recycling them locally as affordable credit, SACCOs were performing a vital economic function that strengthened communities.
“You keep financial capital circulating within our community, fuelling investment, consumption and resilience,” he said.
“This foundational work directly contributes to poverty reduction, improved livelihoods and inclusive growth.”-herald
