Solomon Atsiaya: Meet the CEO who built the Kenya National Police DT Sacco at KSh 54b Asset Organization

• Kenya National Police DT Sacco overshadowed at Ushirika Awards 2024 celebrations, becoming best managed cooperative society
• According to Sacco CEO Solomon Atsiaya, this distinction is attributed to the resilience achieved through good leadership and corporate governance.
• Since joining Sacco in 2009, Atsiaya has reached heights not only in the cooperative movement but in the entire financial sector.

TUKO.co.ke journalist Wycliffe Musalia has over five years of experience in financial, business and technology journalism and offers in-depth insight into Kenyan and global economic trends.

It’s a sunny afternoon as we visit the Kenya National Police DT Sacco headquarters in Ngara, Nairobi.

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We are warmly welcomed and offered a seat at the reception as we wait our turn to meet the Director General (CEO) of DT Sacco of the Kenya National Police, Solomon Atsiaya.

A few minutes later, a door to our right (the president’s office) opens and an elegant man emerges, offering us a firm hold. He then leads us to a door on the left (CEO’s office).

When did Solomon Atsiaya join Police Sacco?

Atsiaya’s office defines the scale of his achievements since he joined DT Sacco of the Kenya National Police in 2009. The trophy cabinet is bursting at the seams and his work table bears witness to digitalization without paperwork.

Since his arrival over a decade ago, Atsiaya has seen DT Sacco of the Kenya National Police consolidate his position among leading companies in Kenya and beyond.

On the 102nd International Day of Cooperatives, popularly known as Ushirika in Kenya, the company ranked first among the best managed SACCOs in the country.

A report by the Sacco Society Regulatory Authority (SASRA) indicated that the assets of the DT Sacco of the Kenya National Police reached KSh54.24 billion in 2023.

This was attributed to growth in member deposits, which reached KSh31.73 billion, and a loan portfolio of KSh46.75 billion.

Atsiaya suggested TUKO.co.ke that the Sacco has come a long way to reach these growth milestones.

What was the financial strength of Police Sacco in 2009?

The CEO recounted how Sacco was once stuck in a negative financial situation in terms of capital, services and other performance indicators.

“We have a very long history. In fact, we are writing a book to document our history, our journey, where we come from, our struggles and everything about the founding members.

“When I arrived in 2009, we did a financial health check. The Sacco was negatively capitalized, which resulted in long queues of customers seeking services that were not available, loans that were lasting long time, like six months or a year, and emergencies also in difficulty,” Atsiaya noted.

He revealed that the Sacco had a balance sheet of KSh3 billion, revenue of about KSh300 million and 23,000 members.

What strategies did Atsiaya use to relaunch Sacco?

The accountant and management scientist said he had reworked Sacco’s strategy, focusing primarily on how to make the company more sustainable and financially capable of meeting the needs of its members.

“Members are always interested in what the Sacco will do for them. But at the same time, you realize that a Sacco is like a club and you are not going to go to the government, an NGO or the World Bank to obtain funding Therefore, members must accept responsibility and ownership and determine their roles to make it work,” he explained.

The tools he used include:

Education and training

Atsiaya and his management team embarked on the education and training of Sacco’s members and overall leadership.

The objective was to understand the personal responsibility of stakeholders in the growth of Sacco.

“Members had to be educated about saving adequately so that they could build up the cash needed to borrow. It was all over the country. We went house to house, police to police to gain that loyalty,” he said. -he added.

The CEO said resilience was a game changer in the member training strategy, which improved members’ confidence in the Sacco.

“We encountered hostility from some members who had bad experiences with the Sacco. However, through continued training and education, which has now become our core principle, we have been able to bring them closer together.”

“I did a lot of customer follow-up to reduce member withdrawals due to blocked systems.”

Strengthen financial capacities

Sacco mobilized its members to increase their social capital in order to develop its financial strength.

According to the CEO, this strategy has taken the capital base from a negative position to around KSh19 billion, with a projection to reach KSh20 billion before the end of 2024.

“We realized that this is a financial institution and one of the key factors to develop is financial capabilities. It has become one of our main strategic pillars.

“At times, we have had to take loans to strengthen our capital base, which today stands at around KSh19 billion from a negative position. We are one of the most capitalized Saccos in the country “Over the past 10 years, Sacco has not borrowed to finance its activities,” he said.

Sacco’s loan-to-deposit ratio has reached around 150%, as members have borrowed more than their deposits, and Sacco remains liquid.

Atsiaya said Sacco currently has over 75,000 members, with an asset base of KSh55 billion.

To achieve this, the Sacco had to open up the common link to include members from other sectors of the economy while improving its services.

The CEO revealed that DT Sacco of the Kenya National Police now processes its loans and disbursements to members within a day.

Building systems

The management scientist said Sacco needed to build its head office and open eight branches across the country to reach out to more members.

However, the key system was the virtual branch, which emerged as he leveraged technology at Sacco’s management level.

“We have a virtual branch, our largest, which carries out more than 90% of transactions. In the future, we aim to strengthen our technological capacity by adopting information and communication technologies (ICT).

“We are proud to be one of the Saccos that leverage technology to deliver services to their members. We have digitized almost all services, including our register. We are paperless,” the CEO confirmed.

The efficiency of the service has allowed Sacco to have an economic impact on many lives. It has 61 employees and provides hundreds of indirect jobs to Kenyans.

Obtaining ISO certification

ISO certification is one of the biggest achievements of Kenya National DT Sacco under the leadership of CEO Solomon Atsiaya.

Sacco obtained its ISO certification in 2015 to offer members the best quality value-added services.

“We are committed to quality, and this has been one of our principles, making the Kenya National Police DT Sacco one of the most effective Saccos,” Atsiaya said.

Sacco offers its members the opportunity to save and borrow at competitive and affordable rates.

“Most of the members’ money is in the Sacco. We provide access to loans for various purposes including education, development and asset financing among others.”

What is unique about Solomon Atsiaya’s leadership

Before joining DT Sacco of the Kenya National Police, the Co-operative University graduate worked in various cooperative sectors.

After graduating in 2002, Atsiaya worked as a cooperative manager in Busia. He then joined Egerton University Sacco as CEO, where he worked for three years.

In 2006, he joined KWS Sacco as CEO and then joined Kenya Police Sacco in 2009 as Managing Director of the Dream Team.

“An interesting fact about my journey is that I have never joined a well-functioning Sacco. I joined Egerton University Sacco when the entire board was kicked out due to an investigation. I came to rebuild.

At KWS Sacco, it was a similar story, and at Kenya Police Sacco, it was the same, and I was the dream team. I can tell you for free that building a brand is very expensive,” he advised.

Building brand equity

Atsiaya added that building brand equity is one of the key strategies to remain unique in the market.

He said he achieved this goal in Kenya Police DT Sacco through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities, one of the key principles of cooperatives.

In August 2024, Sacco donated new infrastructure to Utumishi Comprehensive School in Gilgil.

SACCO has already awarded scholarships to 283 students, built a health clinic at GSU Ruaraka and built a stadium at South C.

Source: TUKO.co.ke