The CoopCongo Cooperative is a Cooperative that runs independently through its Board by the Cooperative’s Management team and staff members. CoopCongo Cooperative has a Board of Directors to maintain permanent oversight over the Cooperative between General Assembly meetings. Also, Regulatory and Industry bodies like NACFISA (National Cooperative of CFIs in South Africa) and the South African Treasury institutions like the Reserve Bank of South Africa or the CBDA (Cooperative Bank Development Agency) or The Prudential Authority (PA), or The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), all have an oversight and continuous guidance towards the Board and Management team on the affairs of CoopCongo Cooperative.
Understanding the CFI from a functional perspective allows seeing the logic in its operation. It allows defining, with great precision, what the operation should do, and what it should not do as organization. Further, it allows defining what necessary inputs are needed to produce the desired outputs.
The two fundamental functions of a CFI are financial intermediation and investment. The most basic function of a CFI is financial intermediation. That is bringing savers and borrowers together in a system that enables them to pool their money as savings and shares, and after capturing funds then transform them into loans by calculating all of the costs of doing this business to make a profitable/useful surplus for both parties: the CFI and its members. The Cooperative extends loans to its members under flexible and accessible conditions and generates interests that are shared through various channels between its members.
The principles under which the Cooperative operates under :
The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) recommends and reviews Cooperative Principles from time to time which any genuine Cooperative institution must strictly adhere to and these are:
- Voluntary and open membership
- Democratic administration and members leadership
- Member Economic Participation: -Service and Surplus return to members
- Continuous education to members and leaders
- Autonomous and self-help
- Concern for the community
- Cooperation among cooperatives
Operations in the CoopCongo Cooperative basically run in this way :
- CoopCongo members join the Cooperative by filling the registration form and paying the admission fee which is determined time by the Board of Directors with members.
- Then members each acquire a portion of the Cooperative by buying a number of shares in line with the rules of the Cooperative. They become co-owner of the Cooperative and must attend meetings and take care of their Cooperative.
- Members also have an opportunity to save their own money in a savings account at the Cooperative, which can earn interest.
- Members may obtain loans from the Cooperative in line with rules established by the Board of the Directors and members themselves; these loans are repayable at some interest and determined length of time.
- Over time, the Cooperative may develop other products to respond to member’s needs which are decided by members themselves. It is therefore a scheme owned by, run by, and for the benefit of members, and where members are together helping themselves for a better life.
