Kenya@50 launches Sanaa Sacco for artistes

In a move that has been seen as long overdue, Kenya@50 has launched Sanaa Savings and Credit Co-operative Society that seeks to encourage a savings culture within the entertainment industry.

For an industry that has on more than one occasion been forced to bail out some of its members who fall into hard time, the Sacco is an idea whose time has come.

Sanaa Sacco, which aims at improving the economic well-being of creative industry members, hopes to bring together all artistes from across music, film, fashion, literature and performing arts into joining together to save so as to rise to the next level.

Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Culture and The Arts, Dr Hassan Wario was the chief guest at the Sacco’s launch at The National Museum of Kenya on Friday evening.

UNIQUE NEEDS

He said that artistes faced a unique set of challenges.

“We want to have a financial institution that will cater to the unique needs of our artists,” said Wario.

“Very many of our artists struggle to access loans from banks because they lack official pay slips. With this Sacco, they will be able to apply for credit at affordable rates. It’s also an avenue for artists to invest some of their additional income,” he added.

Some of the objectives of the Sacco include creation and management of distribution channels for members’ products, provision of financial management advice on investment opportunities and expenditure sharing of information on artiste management and business aspect of the talents as a whole and identification valuable partnership platforms such as endorsements, product placements and mentorships.

The Sacco offices are on first floor of Rattansi Building and is open to everyone in the creative industry.

All artistes have been urged to sign up.

Potential members will pay Sh500 to be part of the Sacco and will contribute Sh1000 every month.