Cooperatives to digitally centralise operations
Isaac Pinielo | Tuesday May 23, 2017 17:05
The initial processes of the system development, dubbed, “All Cooperatives Management Information Solution (CoopMIS), are already underway with the project expected to start soon.
Board chairperson of Motswedi Savings and Credit Cooperative Society (Motswedi SACCOS), Sipora Tsonope said the project, which will cost around P4 million, is still at a tender stage.
“The Director of Cooperatives Movement office is spearheading the project and the cooperatives are coordinating its headway and implementation,” she said on Saturday during a Motswedi SACCOS annual general meeting (AGM) in Gaborone.
She also stated that the tender for the project has already been publicised, adding that pre-tender meeting, tender evaluations, and site visits to prospective system developers have been done. According to Tsonope, out of the 11 companies that responded to the invitation to tender, two Kenyan database design companies, Attain Enterprise Solutions, and CoreTEC Systems and Solutions, were shortlisted as the final prospective system developers to the project. “Negotiations are ongoing with the two companies after which the one with a better offer will be selected and the system implementation will start,” said Tsonope.
She said the idea to develop the database system came after it was realised that cooperatives suffer a lot of setbacks and financial losses when they endeavour to computerise operations in silo. Members of various cooperative societies have in the past indicated that there was a need for cooperatives to computerise data as the manual process was prone to human errors.
Investment, Trade and Industry assistant minister, Biggie Butale encouraged cooperatives to embrace good governance, business acumen mentality and robust winning strategies for their success.
He said with 258 registered cooperatives in the country, the cooperative sector shows growth, not only in number, but in value as well. “This is demonstrated by the level of investment, employment created and the benefits to the membership,” the junior minister said.
Butale said the cooperative movement the world over is increasingly being promoted by international development organisations as a means to enhancing participatory and inclusive development. He noted that this is a result of the participatory nature of cooperatives that embrace communities investment that promotes multiple growth opportunities. “Besides providing means for economic growth, cooperatives also provide an opportunity for empowerment of local communities, socially and economically,” he said.