Impacts of Cooperative Societies on Nigerian SME owners

In a cooperative society, a group of people gather a percentage of their income to save in order to improve their welfare or for the purpose of attending to their physical, business and social activities. The history of cooperatives in Nigeria can be dated back to the 1930s when the ‘Contribution Society’ was the prominent cooperative society. Today, people make reference to the Contribution Society as the image of cooperative societies.

Membership into a cooperative society is not restricted by gender or age. The principle guiding joining a cooperative society is that membership is voluntary and the society is not segregated based on economic or political status; all members are treated fairly. Notwithstanding, cooperative societies have unique principles that ensure fair treatment and effective adherence to underlying laws and policies.

Cooperative society is much needed in Nigeria most especially for SME owners seeing that the extension of loans by financial institutions in Nigeria has been corrupted; the system of applying for loans and getting loans in the Nigerian economy usually requires long procedures and heavy collaterals before loans are issued. The major reason people drawback is due to the fact that the possibility for financial institutions to grant cheap loan is very low.

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Members who are SME owners are assured of getting loans from their respective cooperative societies. More so, cooperative societies usually engage in industrial and distributive trading in the sense that they promote exports and distribution of national resources and agricultural produce to boost economic development of the nation. Cloud Cooperative is an e-cooperative society that does not only hope to alienate poverty in the economy but create employment and create access to loans for its members after they must have saved for six months on a stretch. Register now to become a member and get access to countless opportunities.