KISUMU, 6th November 2026 – U and Me Housing Cooperative Limited has rolled out new products targeting members across the country, after a two-week sensitisation tour of Rift Valley, Western and Nyanza regions.
Speaking during a members’ forum in Kisumu, Chief Executive Officer Julius Odera said the Nairobi-based cooperative is enlightening members that dreams can only be realised through investing in housing cooperatives.
“Investing in a house or property for you or your family can generate income and realise your dreams today and in the future,” Odera said.
He said the cooperative has about 7,500 members countrywide, including close to 800 in Kisumu and its environs, with an asset base of Sh1.3 billion.
Odera said Nyanza was lagging in cooperative culture, not because of lack of potential, but because of a weak saving culture which the SACCO is now deliberately working to activate.
“We have decided to have products that encourage our people to save, including junior savers, where a culture of saving can be inculcated from a young age. An 11-year-old can open an account and start saving towards their dream home through their parents,” he said.
The cooperative allows members to save as little as Sh50 a day towards home ownership.
“Homeownership is not a preserve for those who are employed. Even a mamamboga can own a home through the systems we have put in place,” Odera added.
He outlined an ambitious growth plan to become the biggest cooperative in Kenya in the next five years, by recruiting 500,000 new members through existing members as marketers, growing the asset base to Sh35 billion in five years and Sh200 billion in 10 years.
He clarified that the asset base target refers to loans given to members to empower them to own homes or income-generating properties, not properties owned by the institution itself.
Odera dismissed the misconception that housing is only for the rich or employed.
“For a long time, the imagination has been that housing is a preserve for either the rich or the employed. We want to demystify that by bringing on board everybody, from the mamamboga to the boda boda rider to the matatu driver,” he said.
He cited success stories in Athi River, Kisumu and Embu, where boda boda riders and small-scale traders have accessed loans through small daily, weekly and monthly savings to realise their housing dreams.
He urged all Kenyans to join cooperatives, saying saving is the foundation of investment.
“The easiest way to mobilise savings is through a SACCO. You will not invest what you have not saved,” he said.
Ben Obera, a member since 2019, said he has used his savings to buy his first plot in Nyalenda and hopes to start building next year.
“I have been seeing my account growing every day, and last year I received a dividend of about seven per cent, which is very high,” Obera said.
He urged Kisumu residents to join, noting that government affordable housing alone is not enough to meet the city’s huge housing need.
“Even if you are saving Sh50 a day, that is quite some money. You will be surprised at how much it has grown,” he said.
Hesborn Owinyo Akach, Chairman of U and Me Nyanza Region and a national board member, said he joined in 2019 to save for his own house and has continued saving since.
“Nyanza people have been very grateful to us. We would like to provide housing and other assets to these people so they can have something to fall back on,” Akach said.
John Manyala, the County Director for Cooperatives, said the county government supports any SACCO that helps citizens.
He assured the public that cooperatives are a safe way to save, saying a common bond allows members to pool resources and access facilities that help them acquire assets for prosperity.
“As a county government, we encourage any SACCO that comes in to help our citizens,” Menele said.
