International Credit Union (ICU) Day celebrates the spirit of the global credit union movement. The day is recognized to reflect upon the credit union movement’s history, promote its achievements, recognize hard work, and share member experiences. International Credit Union (ICU) Day has been celebrated on the third Thursday of October since 1948. Credit unions bring financial inclusion and a promising future to people all over the world.
The ultimate goal is to raise awareness about the tremendous work that credit unions and other financial cooperatives are doing around the world and give members the opportunity to get more engaged. The day of festivities for credit unions and financial cooperatives globally includes fundraisers, open houses, contests, picnics, volunteering, and parades.
Today 20th October 2022, the Gambia credit union movement joins the global credit union family to celebrate the 74th anniversary of ICU Day. This year’s theme is “Empower Your Financial Future with a Credit Union.” The Credit Union movement in the Gambia has made great strides to build the financial future of the Gambian population both young and old. During the cause of the year, credit unions continue to open their common bonds and make access to affordable financial services achievable by all citizens. A total loan amount of over a billion dalasi has been disbursed to members of different credit unions to address various socio-economic needs such as construction, purchase of land, business capital, education, etc. At the level of the apex new products have been developed such as the mobile wallet to make financial transactions and paying for necessities easy and efficient. In the same light, the apex continues to engage with partners to provide funds in the form of grants to Gambians for personal and economic development. We have not also relented in our effort to promote the idea of credit Unions and by extension have registered new credit unions and guided many other study groups to form part of the movement. The credit union has demonstrated over the years that it’s a viable model for the financial empowerment of its member, many have achieved financial stability and improved their livelihoods as a result of the credit union.
However, despite the successes registered nationally and globally, there are still 1.4 billion people across the globe who are unbanked and in the Gambia out of about the 2 million population only a little above 100,000 are members of the credit union. As a movement we wish to say to every Gambian that your financial future is secured with the credit union, we have proven over the years beyond reasonable doubt that we are one of the most resilient financial institutions in the world, therefore anyone who entrusts your future with the credit union, you are assured of a lifetime guarantee. We wish to remind every Gambian that the credit union philosophy is the way to go as credit unions truly have the perfect business model to empower the financial future of everyone. Finally, NACCUG wishes to call on all stakeholders to spread this message to support the membership recruitment drive of NACCUG and the collective goal of achieving a financially empowered future for everyone.
NACCUG wishes all a joyous INTERNATIONAL CREDIT UNION DAY!!
