Benefits Of Cooperative Society

Mr. Osunremi Olukayode Sola, Manager of Prime Assets Cooperative Multipurpose Society who also doubles as a credit analyst for the cooperative society, enlightens us on what cooperative society is all about and shares 5 benefits of cooperative society in this interview with Elsie Godwin of Nigeria Real Estate Hub (NREH)

“Cooperative Society is an institution where two or three people from different walks of life come together basically for a purpose of meeting each others needs. Those needs may vary from individual to individual, but there is always an underlining factor that binds these people together which is usually survival. Everyone wants to survive as regards basic needs – food, shelter and clothing. So what a cooperative does is regardless of where you work or what tribe you are from, as long as you have identified yourself as someone who wants to actually not feed with his ten fingers alone, being able to have something that will help you in the future, a cooperative is the right place.”

 

“It is also one of the most primitive tools of saving. Essentially helps people imbibe a savings culture. Cooperative allows you set aside a certain amount of money while you are still in gainful employment which allows you to fall back on that savings you have and run with it for other businesses you may want to do on your own. So you can transit from being in paid employment to being self-employed.”

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Benefits of Cooperative Society

These are 5 benefits that cut across a typical cooperative society in the Nigerian context:

1. Savings

Savings may not be as effective as you want it to be with other methods of saving. Like the ATM cards enables you to make payments online, purchases and the likes through that savings account. Meaning that whatever savings I have kept in those financial institutions is not actually a savings. It’s just a temporary warehousing such money to be disbursed. But cooperatives is as regimented that once you save you cannot withdraw your money except you are terminating your membership.

2. Credits

We all need credits to pay rents, meet short term needs, buy electronic appliances, school fees and the rest. So credit is one major benefit members benefit from. If you save in a commercial bank, you still may not reach the requirement of getting a loan there but with the cooperative, as long as you adhere to the rules and regulations and you can save consistently in a minimum period prescribed in the bylaw, you are sure of getting a credit.

3. Networking

Cooperatives gives you the platform to network. With a cooperative society that has members of about 200 -300 or more, it means that whatever it is you are doing as an individual, you can showcase such products with the members of the cooperative. Meaning you can network.

4. Dividend.

There is always dividends that is paid which a lay man will call returns on investment. That simply means that when you have saved for a year, the cooperative is bound to share what we call surplus to its members depending on what you have saved.

5.  Acquisition

In the area of acquisition of properties, cooperatives come in handy to assist such process in ease of payments and other benefits attached to being a member.