East African Business Week

Kigali, Uganda - Kenya will help Rwanda to strengthen its emerging co-operative sector to boost job creation and welfare of Rwandans.
The Kenyan Minister of Co-operative Development and Marketing Mr. Joseph Nyagah and Rwanda Minister of Trade and Industry Ms. Monique Nsanzabaganwa recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to boost Rwanda's co-ops.
The MoU paves way for Kenya to provide technical expertise to Rwanda in the area of co-operative development.
Through the partnership, Kenya will provide skills trainings to the staff of Rwanda cooperative movement.
Kenya will also offer cooperative training facilities to the Rwandan government.
According to the Rwanda Cooperative Agency (RCA), a public institution that regulates the cooperatives sector, between 3,000 and 4,000 Rwandans are involved in cooperative business.
In the financial sector alone, there are more than 400 Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs) in Rwanda.
Last year, Rwandan co-ops had a combined share capital of around US$12 million.
Rwanda's cooperative sector is not well developed and it faces skills challenges especially in the area of management and business development.  
This limits sector growth and reduces its contribution to the national economy.
Over the past years, cooperative officials reportedly embezzled around US$16,244,649 from their cooperatives, according to Rwanda's Prosecution office.
The Rwanda-Kenya cooperation seeks to strengthen management of the cooperatives and transform them into profitable entities.
In Kenya one in five people  is a member of a co-operative or 5.9 million and 20 million Kenyans directly or indirectly derive their livelihood from the co-operative Movement, according to the International Cooperative Alliance(ICA).
Co-ops in Kenya are responsible for 45% of the country's economy and 31% of national savings and deposits.
They have 70% of the coffee market, 76% dairy, 90% pyrethrum, and 95% of cotton, ICA says. In the world, co-operatives provide over 100 million jobs, 20% more than multinational enterprises, according to ICA.
Next year has been declared as the international year dedicated for co-ops..