EBO SACCO (EBO) are one of the largest SACCOs in Western Uganda, serving over 20,000 clients across five branches and dedicated to providing high quality and sustainable financial services in rural & peri-urban areas. One of the reasons behind their success has been their adoption in 2016 of the award-winning core banking system Musoni.
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Before adopting Musoni, EBO used a local software solution and faced challenges with branch interconnectivity. Not only was it difficult for the management team in Head Office to oversee branch performance, but clients were only able to interact with the SACCO through the branch they were registered. Technology was making it harder for EBO to expand or provide high quality services to their clients. In 2015 EBO therefore took the decision to put technology at the heart of their expansion strategy. After an extensive vendor selection process, and with support from aBI Trust*, Musoni was chosen as their preferred solution. At the time Joseph Mugume, EBO’s CEO, said “switching to a cloud based system will make it easier to provide high quality financial services in rural areas, while also reducing future IT costs.”
The decision has been justified. Since going live on Musoni EBO have seen impressive growth. In under one year client numbers have grown from 19,000 to 24,000 (+24%) and loan portfolio has increased from €2.8MM to €4MM (+40%). The value of savings under management has also increased from €1.3MM to €2.1MM (+50%).
[divider line_type=”No Line” custom_height=”10″] This is just the start. Over the next three years EBO have ambitious plans to open five more branches, and grow client numbers into over 50,000. They also plan to launch USSD balance enquiries and SMS communication, adding transparency and new services for their clients. Explaining EBO SACCO’s rapid growth, Joseph Mgume said “Musoni is one of the best systems linking financial inclusion and microfinance. I would definitely recommend Musoni to any organisation looking to use advanced technology as an enabling factor for growth.” Cameron Goldie-Scot, Musoni’s CEO explained “Musoni is proud to be working with EBO SACCO as they use technology to improve the quality and availability of financial services to low income Ugandans.”
*The purchase of the Musoni System was made with the support of aBI Trust, the Ugandan technical assistance provider devoted to supporting the agricultural sector.