Looking Glass: CAMASEJ NW Honours Musa Shey Nfor

Musa Shey Nfor is the President of the Cameroon Cooperative Credit Union League-CamCCUL, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bamenda Police Cooperative Credit Union-BAPCCUL. He is also the President of ANEMCAM as well as President of the Chambers of Agriculture for the North West Region. On World Press Freedom Day, North West Journalists grouped under the umbrella association of CAMASEJ honoured him for his leadership qualities and innovative ideas at the helm of BAPCCUL and CamCCUL.
He is celebrated for transforming CamCCUL and the BAPCCUL into an place where the poor meet to alleviate their financial plight. At the level of BAPCCUL, thanks to his tenets and result-orientations, the microfinance has witnessed transformative and exciting results. It is not for nothing that BAPCCUL was rated as the most reliable, dynamic and fastest growing credit union in Cameroon with more members registered in a single year than the total members registered in BAPCCUL in all its first twenty seven years of existence; more shares/savings mobilized in one year than all the first 32 years put together. More income generated in one year than all the first 30 years put together, and more interest paid to be paid on members savings than the total interest paid to members in the first 34 years. Musa Shey Nfor BAPCCUL was awarded a certificate of recognition following its coming out as the best credit union in members mobilization during the International Credit Union Day in Bafoussam and it also retained its first position as the credit union with the highest rural membership, highest rural operational branches and highest number of branches operating on Sundays. With over 28,882 members and at least 3295 new members registered annually, the figures also indicate that 17,073 males, 9,662 females and 2,146 groups” have decided to be part of the innovative poverty alleviation programme. In 2014 alone members’ shares increased to FCFA 799.7 million as against FCFA 698.7 in 2013 showing a net increase of FCFA 101 million representing 14.5%. He used the opportunity to call on members who have not raised their shares to FCFA 50.000 as required by law to do so.
It is because of this confidence that members’ savings increased to FCFA 10 billion, 514 million up from FCFA 8 billion, 854 million in 2013 registering a net increase of FCFA 1billion, 650 million or 18.62%. While members that deposit balance at the end of the year stood at FCFA 1 billion, 276 million up from FCFA 1billion, 864 million. This he added clearly reflects the high confidence that members have bestowed in BAPCCUL leadership as custodian of their funds.
On loans and Loans defaulting, BAPCCUL disbursed a total of 7272 loans amounting to FCFA 10 billion, 912 million with outstanding up from 7090 loans worth FCFA 9 billion, 632 millions. With the coming into effective of the legal implementation of the Amended OHADA Uniform Acts on security and guaranties has considerable implications/ impact on many loan practices and recoveries given that the loans follow-up, loan recovery task force and in certain extreme cases only resulted to court actions which were very lengthy, time consuming, costly and a permanent source of conflict including sometimes threats of life on those following recoveries. Reasons why by December 31, 2014 indicators on the rate of consumption revealed that women account for only 15.85% of the portfolio and 11% of delinquency while men on the other hand account for about 69.74% of the loan contracted and close to 80% delinquency. Men in rural areas are more willing to repay their loans while those in townships do not.
Musa Shey Nfor is a great lobbyist who would spare no efforts to seek partnership and external relations. The AGRIFIN project that was earlier initiated as a joint venture between World Bank and CamCCUL has continued in empowering farmers with BAPCCUL and other CamCCUL affiliates being an important beneficiaries. BAPCCUL has been a great beneficiary of the PADMIR project especially through its branch offices in the project zone such as Bafia, Makenene, Foumbot and Yaounde. Apart from the construction of offices, BAPCCUL also benefited from other materials such as motor bikes, computers, safes, capacity building and lots of others. The construction of the Makenene branch office was supported by PADMIR.
It should be noted that BAPCCUL has two branch offices in Douala at Bonaberi and Camp Yabassi respectively. Apart from the head office in Bamenda, there are two other branches located at Mile 3 Nkwen and Nkwen Ghana Street. Other branch offices are found in Yaounde at Carrefour Biyem-Assi, Bafia, Nkambe, Kumba, Ndu, Makenene, Mbot, and Foumbot. Three of these branches went operational in 2014. These branches are Mbot, Foumbot and St. Paul Junction Brach office at Mile 3 Nkwen while recently another branch has just gone functional at Bamenda I, Up station.

(See separate story on CamCCUL, UP NEXT)

 When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)