Ntarinkon credit union mounts podium for 10th year running.

The microfinance institution was declared winner of the Most Digitalised and Highest Interest-paying Credit Union in Douala Saturday March 4.

The institution credit union won the distinction in the 2022 edition of The Guardian Post Excellence Award. The award ceremony brought together a cream of personalities from across the country.

NtaCCUL was voted by the teeming readers of the most regularly-published and widely-read newspaper, The Guardian Post.

This was because of the credit union’s successful drive towards digitalisation and the fact that it is the credit union that pays the highest interest on saving. It pays 6% interest on savings.

The NtaCCUL delegation to the award ceremony was led by its president of Board of Directors, Fru Isaac Taku, and the General Manager, Devine Ade Muma.

Reacting after receiving the award, the General Manager of NtaCCUL, Devine Ade Muma, in a jovial mood, said he was happy that NtaCCUL has been very constant in offering the best services to the public for the past 10 years.

“We have been paying 6% interest on members’ savings for the past 10 years and we are going to continue and why not increase it in the nearest future,” he said.

Commenting about the award as Most Digitalised Credit Union, Devine Ade said an App has been developed that members can sit in the comfort of their house to withdraw and save money through mobile phone.

On customer care, he said: “We have been able to take good care of our customers and they go out to recommend other clients to come and join…for the past years, we have been increasing interest on savings, and this year we are reducing interest on loans and a lot of charges have also been reduced.

“Accounts can be created free of charge, free passbook, free cheques, free documentations, and most of the operations now are free, even inter-branch transfer of money,” he disclosed.

Award ahead of Golden Jubilee

It should be noted that the award of Most Digitalised & Highest Interest-paying Credit Union comes ahead of the celebration of the Golden Jubilee of NtaCCUL.

The General Manager disclosed that events leading to the jubilee will start with the inauguration of the giant and imposing building of the Yaounde-Melen branch and continue in all the regions of the country. He therefore called on members to mobilise ahead of the jubilee.

NtaCCUL’s proximity to members

Meanwhile, with a membership of over 82,000 and deposits of over 60 billion FCFA, NtaCCUL is located in five regions of Cameroon. With its head office in Ntarinkon, Bamenda, there is a branch in Ntarinkon, Food Market, Bamenda; Nkwen and Up Station, Bamenda.

In Yaounde there are branches in Melen, Ekounou, Nlonkak and Mendong. In Douala there are branches in Bonaberi, Douche and Cite de Palmier and Ndobo cash office. Buea has a branch in Mile 17 Roundabout.

In Kumba there is a branch opposite CamCCUL, Buea Road; Bertoua, opposite Gendarmerie Legion and Bafoussam, opposite MRC filling station, Marche B. There are plans to extend to Limbe and Ngaoundere.

Laudable digitalisation drive

It should be noted that in 2021 NtaCCUL undertook digitalisation and included electronic banking into its system. Through the electronic banking, NtaCCUL is able to connect its banking to the CEMAC Network.

It has the opening to having ATM cards. With these cards, members have the leeway to connect directly to their accounts. This facilitates the usage of the ATM cards in the entire CEMAC zone.

With the successful digitalisation, NtaCCUL members are now able to carry out transaction by ATM and prepaid Visa cards, Western Union, World Remit, RIA, MTN and Orange mobile money transactions.

The Most Digitalised Credit Union award comes to add to several others that have been won by NtaCCUL over the years. This include The Guardian Post’s 2021 Best and Most Reliable Microfinance Institution Award; Cameroon’s Best Credit Union award, presented by an association of journalists known as Confederation of Cameroon Anglophone Journalists for a United and Stable Cameroon.

The journalists said NtaCCUL was awarded because it pays interest rates of 6% on members' savings, its reliability, fastest-growing nature and offers laudable customer-friendly services that are not common with most credit unions in Cameroon.

Increase in interest rate swells NtaCCUL’s membership

It should also be noted that NtaCCUL’s decision to increase interest rates on savings from 3% to 6% has caused its membership to swell.

Following its annual and audited accounts for the year 2020, it emerged that membership in the microfinance institution rose from 58,253 in 2019 to 65,914 in 2020. In 2020 alone, the credit union registered 7,661 new members

NtaCCUL has not only witnessed an increase in membership in 2020 but also saw its financial performance skyrocket same year.

The microfinance institution has not only witnessed a rise in membership but also a sharp increase in interest rate. Its customer-friendly services were also instituted and efforts carried out in other domains

Digital transformation

NtaCCUL has embarked on a digital transformation in order to make its services available to all members, irrespective of their geographical location.

The first step it took was to empower and build the capacity of its staff since there was need for manpower development and training and then introducing digital products.

With NtaCCUL’s digital project, members do not necessarily have to visit any of their branches before carrying out any financial transactions.

Unlike what used to obtain in the past, members can save, withdraw and carry out any financial transaction with the credit union, simply by using their mobile phones from their comfort zones.

With this huge development, NtaCCUL is the first and only microfinance institution in Cameroon to have gone fully digital.

NtaCCUL, it should be recalled, is the first-ever microfinance institution in Cameroon to provide ATM machine services in its branches nationwide. Some of the digital services include Western Union, World Remit, Ria, MTN MoMo, Orange Money and Visa card operations.

“Though there has been a sharp increase in the use and output of these digital products, there is the need for a digital shift. The credit union has embarked on digital transformation in order to make this service available to all members, irrespective of their geographical location,” Fru Isaac, Chairman of  NtaCCUL Board of Directors, had told The Guardian Post in February 2022.

He had added that this digital shift entails the broadening of the product base in order to provide a foundation on which modern financial services can be hinged.

“This foundation is nothing but a strong, performing and reliable core banking software that facilitates operations, secures data and can anchor not only current digital financial services, but future services,” Fru noted.

NtaCCUL changing lives

Operating in Cameroon since 1972, the credit union has satisfied thousands of people, transforming lives. Many have become successful thanks to NtaCCUL.

According to a member, Ekom Ekili Martin, national president of Mission and Enterprise Cameroon, he is what he is today thanks to NtaCCUL.

"I must say that this credit union has been of great help to me as a person and the community in which I live," Ekom Ekili said.

"When I became a member, and started getting loans, I contacted the then mayor of Buea and we built shop- ping spaces at Mile 17 and a guest house, which is of great help to the people," Ekom Ekili added.

NtaCCUL is the most committed credit union with micro-credit schemes, outreach services, giving school fees loans, special operations for customs clearance, mortgage loans for civil servants, line of credit for civil servants, micro-credit for ‘buyam sellams’ ‘Njangi’ financing, agricultural loans, buy a house equipment loan and many others.