FAQs

A cooperative society is an organisation of people who have voluntarily come together for the purpose of solving their socio-economic problems through self-help initiatives, mutual support and investment ventures aimed at equally benefiting the group/members and their communities and or spheres of influence.

The most common types of cooperatives in the world are:

• Savings and credit cooperatives SACCOs also known as CREDIT UNIONS
• Housing cooperatives
• Consumer cooperatives
• Transport cooperatives
• Marketing cooperatives
• Horticulture cooperatives
• Handicraft cooperatives
• Industrial cooperatives
• Building and construction cooperatives
• Service cooperatives
• Multi-purpose cooperatives

This is a cooperative whose objective is to pool savings for its members and in turn provide them with credit facilities. SACCOs also aim at encouraging thrift amongst their members and to guide them on prudent financial management and investment practices. SACCOs that succeed in building a critical mass of membership may also benefit from economies of scales arising from bulk purchases, common logistics, distribution, marketing and common markets among many other innovations. SACCO is an abbreviation for Saving and Credit Cooperative. SACCOs are user-owned financial institutions that offer both savings and credit services to their members. Members of these financial institutions can be both net savers and net borrowers. In Zimbabwe’s legal framework, SACCOs are authorized to mobilize member savings and non-members savings.

• SACCO Society is financial cooperative society established by voluntary people based on the philosophy of building self-help society or “people helping people”.
• SACCO Society is owned, managed, controlled by members. Members have the right to decide on its issues, members have the right to benefit from its service.
• SACCO Society is formed initially for the poorer to provide financial services such as safe place for savings and providing easy accessible loans to members.
• SACCO Society is “not for profit or for charity” but serve members at fair profit margins.
• In SACCO Society members’ savings form a good pool of money, from which loans are made to members with fair lending interest and the interest rate is decided by members.
• In SACCO Society once overhead and other expenses are paid, reserve for cushion against any loss, and for expansion of services set aside, the remaining income from loans is returned back to members in the form of dividend on savings, share or both.

NB: Parents and guardians may open accounts on behalf of their minor children, of which the minors would eventually takeover once they become a major by operation of the law. To join a cooperative society, you must fulfil the following conditions:

• Be 18 years and above
• Have a common bond with other members of the cooperative society
• Be of good character
• Be of sound mind
• Agree to abide by the Cooperative Societies Act, Rules and By-laws of respective cooperative society

Membership may be lost in the event of:

• Expulsion in accordance to your cooperative society’s by-laws
• Death
• Unsound mind
• Voluntary withdrawal or resignation from your cooperative society
• Collapse or dissolution of your cooperative society

As a member of a cooperative society, you are entitled to a number of rights, including the right to:

• Attend general meetings and vote
• Get a share of surplus income at the end of each year
• Inspect your society’s books of account
• Apply for loans, in the case of SACCOs
• Approve, reject or defer budget
• Participate in amending the society’s by-laws
• Fix borrowing powers of the society

Some of your responsibilities as a member are:

• Economic participation
• Attending members’ education days
• Adhering to your society’s by-laws
• Liability for your society’s debts incurred as a member.
• Encouraging potential members to join your society

​

• The Supreme authority of the SACCO vests in the General Meeting/General Assembly
• Management Committee
• Management Sub-committees namely:
• Supervisory Committee – Reports to the General Assembly and Supervises and controls the management committee
• Technical Advisory Board – is made up of non-member technocrats who advises the Management Committee
• Education and Training Committee
• Investments Committee
• Loans Committee
• ICT Committee
• Business Development Committee
• Operations and Logistics Committee

The management committee is the governing authority of a SACCO and is subject to any directives of a general meeting. It is advised by the Technical Advisory Board and is supervised by the Supervisory Committee. Among other responsibilities, the committee has a duty to:

• Adhere to the Cooperative Societies Act chapter 24:05, Rules and By-laws, General Assembly Resolutions and prudent business practices in all its activities and undertakings
• Determine the interest rates on loans, subject to the society’s by-laws
• Ensure the keeping of true and accurate records of account
• Recommend to the annual general meeting, the dividend rate to be paid on shares, and the interest and refund payable to borrowers
• Authorise investments by the society

The Loans committee must abide by the loans policy. Some of the requirements by the existing policy are:

• A society must have been in existence for at least 6 months (from the date of registration), for its members to qualify for cooperative loans
• You must have been a member of a cooperative society for at least 6 months to qualify for a loan
• Only members can qualify for a loan
• The society’s books of account must be up to date for its members to qualify for loans

A members Savings and contributions must remain in the society for at least 6 months for you qualify for a loan.

When demand for loans is more than the available funds, short-term loans will be given preference. However, at all times, smaller loans will always get a priority over larger ones.

The main types of loan available to Cent Cent SACCO members are:

• Productive Loans/Normal Loans
• Micro-Leasing Finance
• Emergency Loan (EL)
• Life Cycle Loans (LCL)
• Education Loans
• Graduation Loans
• Wedding Loans
• Funeral Loans

Yes, you can join a co-operative as long as your income allows you to save regularly. Saving regularly does not necessarily mean daily, weekly, monthly etc.

Loans are given up to four times the amount of SACCO savings, while repayment period ranges from 4-36 months, depending on the availability of funds.

Cent Cent SACCO has an open common bond, meaning open for all Zimbabweans. Other SACCOs limit their membership to those belonging to say same company/enterprise/institution, same profession of bound by a defined geographical area.

Cent Cent is following the template of oldest SACCOs in the world that have since grown to be International Banks bursting the boundaries of limiting common bonds that inhibit innovation and attainment of critical mass and heavy weight economies of scale.