Africa SACCOs Regulatory Roundtable Provided Lessons that Transform Coops: Commissioner

Addis Ababa, June 28, 2025 (ENA)—The four-day Africa Savings and Credit Cooperatives (Africa SACCOs) regulatory roundtable had provided lessons that transform cooperatives in Africa, Ethiopian Cooperatives Commissioner Shiferaw Shigute said.

 The four-day long 2025 Africa SACCOs regulatory roundtable was successfully concluded last night at Sheraton Addis Hotel in Addis Ababa.

In a closing remark at the conclusion of the 2025 Africa SACCOs regulatory roundtable yesterday, Commissioner Shiferaw said the roundtable has provided lessons for the regulators on how they can work together to develop and transform cooperatives in Africa as well as to decide the future destiny of the continent.

He stressed that the roundtable can transform the continent and serve members of the cooperatives and bring together marginalized people to financial inclusion through cooperatives like SACCOs.

“If we come together as cooperatives, we can transform this continent and serve the members of our cooperatives, bringing all those marginalized people in the rural areas to financial inclusion.”

In this regard, the roundtable has provided lessons for regulators to try to make change in the SACCOs system, the Commissioner noted, emphasizing regulators responsibility to manage, regulate and create a transparent, accountable and digital sensitive operations.

Ethiopia, with 27 million cooperative members and 8 million SACCOs members, has set various packages to expand the SACCOs program by learning the experiences of other African countries like Kenya, Shigute said.

Emphasizing the power of cooperation and expressing optimism, he added that SACCOs can transform lives of the people as well as economies of the nations and the continent at large.

On his part, African Confederation of Cooperative Savings and Credit Association (ACCOSCA) Executive Director, George Ombado, said the meeting was fruitful in sharing experiences and deeply discussing issues on how to use technology and strengthen cooperatives in Africa.

The Executive Director stressed the vast growth opportunities that exist within Africa's cooperative sector, appreciating the Ethiopian Cooperatives Commission model to encourage the large numbers of saving and credit cooperatives to make impact in their community.

“For the last couple of days, we have been engaged in compliance and supervision. We have also gone deep into discussion about how we can strengthen the cooperatives sector in the continent and how that can affect Ethiopia. We are pleased that the Ethiopian Cooperatives Commission is a nice model. We have also seen a number of SACCOs that are big and have then impact in their community,” he elaborated. 

Ombado further said the African regulators have agreed upon important points that they will be providing guidelines and producing white paper on how they can merge cooperatives, consolidate them or make more viable.

The roundtable has brought together senior government officials, SACCOs regulators, industry experts, development partners, and cooperative leaders from across Africa and beyond.