Page 56 - SACCO STAR ISSUE 43

SACCO INDUSTRY WATCH
HOW A BOTTLE OF BEER BUILT A
BOARDING SCHOOL IN EMBU
GBonanza school students at a school trip
erish Bar, Embu was the
spot.
Every week day, at 5pm
a group of 12 men rolled
their sleeves and downed
a few bottles of beer as they engaged
in lively banter.
A little politics here, office tittle-tattle, we could as well afford to put aside a
village updates and an occasional
whine about their wives.
The men, all from different walks of
life worked in different fields and were
only united by their ‘baada ya kazi’
activity.
They had established a routine. Each
one had a turn to buy drinks and as
days turned into months; months to
years, a bond was formed. A solid
bond.
54| SACCO Star Magazine
By Lillian Kiarie
Normally, the group of twelve men
would religiously contribute to raise
funds enough to buy each a drink.
It was during one of their rendezvous
that the idea of saving towards an
investment was hatched.
“If we could afford to gobble down 3
beers each night and pay for it in cash, monthly contribution of Ksh 1, 000,”
few coins for future investment,” says
Moses Nyaga, one of the members.
The group struggled to come up with
viable business ideas. Some members
proposed buying a matatu, others felt
that a hospital would take off owing to
the cases of ailing villagers. However,
they did not seem to have expertise in
these fields and did not see it wise to
explore them.
They finally settled on a school, which
they would rely on the expertise of two
of the members who were practicing
teachers.
“With a clear and precise mission,
we committed and agreed that going
forward each one of us would make a
Nyaga says.
The group, which would later on in
2003 be registered as Bonanza SACCO,
took the year 2002, to rally for help
from their area influential friends to
publicize their yet to be established
Bonanza school.
This, together with word of mouth in
public gatherings and area churches,
bore fruit in 2003, when the first batch
of students were welcomed in the
school.