Botswana is looking to Kenya’s cooperative finance sector for practical lessons on building stronger, more sustainable and digitally enabled SACCOs, with the country’s Vice President, His Honour Ndaba Nkosinathi Gaolathe, leading a delegation on a benchmarking visit to Kenya National Police DT SACCO.
The high-level delegation visited the SACCO today to understand how it has strengthened governance, expanded digital financial services, built financial sustainability and evolved its operations around changing member needs.
The engagement went beyond a courtesy visit, with the delegation seeking practical insights that could inform Botswana’s own cooperative sector. Vice President Gaolathe said the discussions had provided clear lessons that his delegation could take home and act on.
“The discipline of your board members is remarkable. From today’s interactions, we have learned a great deal. We are not only taking learnings with us; we now know what we are going to act on,” he said. The Vice President’s remarks highlighted the value Botswana places on Kenya’s experience as it explores approaches to strengthening cooperative institutions and improving the services they provide to members.
Mr. David Mategwa, Chairman of Kenya National Police DT SACCO, said the visit demonstrated the importance of African institutions learning from successful approaches within the continent.
“This visit is a testament to the value of sharing African solutions with one another. We believe the experience gained here can open the door to deeper cooperation between our institutions and contribute to the growth of the cooperative movement across the continent,” he said.
The benchmarking discussions covered governance, member education, savings mobilisation, digital financial services, institutional sustainability and strategic partnerships. The delegation also explored the broader role of cooperatives in supporting communities through initiatives in areas such as education, healthcare, climate action and community development.
Presenting Kenya National Police DT SACCO’s transformation journey, Chief Executive Officer Mr. Solomon Angutsa Atsiaya said the institution’s progress has been driven by its ability to continuously adapt to member needs.
“Our transformation has been driven by a simple principle: a SACCO must continuously evolve around the needs of its members. We are pleased to share both the progress we have made and the lessons from our journey, including the challenges we have had to overcome. We also look forward to learning from Botswana, because sustainable transformation is a two-way conversation,” he said.
Atsiaya highlighted digitalisation as a key part of the SACCO’s evolution, describing its digital platform as its “biggest branch”, while emphasising the continued importance of strengthening members’ savings culture.
The engagement also opened the door to further collaboration between Kenya and Botswana. Vice President Gaolathe invited the leadership of Kenya National Police DT SACCO to Botswana for a reciprocal learning visit, creating an opportunity for both institutions to exchange experiences and explore areas of cooperation.
The visit positions the engagement as more than a one-off benchmarking exercise, with both sides looking to build an ongoing exchange around governance, innovation, financial inclusion and sustainable cooperative growth.
For Botswana, the visit provides an opportunity to draw from Kenya’s experience and identify approaches that can be adapted to its own cooperative sector. For Kenya National Police DT SACCO, it is an opportunity to share its transformation journey while gaining insights from Botswana’s own experience.
The proposed reciprocal visit will provide the next platform for the two institutions to deepen this exchange and explore how practical African solutions can be adapted across different markets.
