Tag: New coop internet banking

Top investor in transport reveals secrets to running a trucking business

Posted on by Kibaki Muthamia

Are you in the trucking business? The journey is not that easy. You cannot predict what lies ahead of you.

Despite your business doing quite well, there will always be ups and downs. Successful business people use these moments to improve and elevate their business to greater heights.

Technology is one big platform that allows entrepreneurs to provide services to their customers and workers seamlessly.

Njiru Mugane, of Njiru & Sons Ltd, is a Mwea businessman. He’s made progressive effort to stay top of the digital financial trends – as a longtime Co-op Bank client.

He uses MCo-op Cash App on the move, through his phone. It has helped him seamlessly integrate his business with his family life.

How has Co-op Internet Banking bridged the business-family life gap?

Njiru has invested heavily multiple gas stations across the country, and in the haulage industry – with a fleet of trucks.

According to Njiru, effectively managing all the trucks at is a logistic nightmare. Drivers would call him at all hours – in the wee hours, strokes past midnight – complaining of truck breakdowns, law brushes at toll bridges, amongst other challenges.

He always had trouble wiring money to drivers and mechanics to cater to repair costs, but with MCo-op Cash, it’s been easier.

Now, he can make instant cash transfers, instant withdrawals or send money for far off garages for minor repairs or spare purchases.

For transparency, he usually makes direct cash transfers from his Co-op Bank account directly to the accounts of the servie providers. Sometimes, even to other banks.

It gives meaning to ‘Send money KI-Pro’! He says the process is fast and effective – he doesn’t even have to wake up from his bed!

Still, Njiru to keep growing, he recognizes the efforts put in by all his workers – and aims to retain his staff for long relationships.

Most of his competitor companies delay salaries. At times, the employer is at fault, sometimes banks are slow to disburse the money due to slow systems.

Njiru’s employees hardly ever suffer that fault.
Njiru’s operational secret is his reliance on Co-op internet banking system. He easily wires money directly to his employee’s accounts – wherever they are.

Money reflects instantly, unlike the outdated systems that took days. Plus, it’s a huge help on the book keeping.

How do you register for Co-op Internet Banking (MCo-op Cash)?

– Visit the nearest Co-op Bank branch and talk to an agent.

– You need your national ID number and account number to link your account to your mobile number.

– A one-time activation pin (OTP) code will be sent via SMS.

– Go to Playstore (Android phones) and download the MCo-op Cash App. It’s free.

– To activate the app, use the OTP sent by the bank. The bank agents will assist.

– Once you access your account, change the passwords to your secret numbers.

– For a phone not internet enabled, activate your MCo-op cash by dialling Co-op Bank USSD*667#.

If you decide to use the USSD code, you should at least have some airtime balance.

To learn more about Co-op internet banking, follow this link here, or talk to an agent at your nearest branch.

This is why a poultry-based startup idea has irresistible merits and worth your time!

Posted on by Kibaki Muthamia

There has been an intense global campaign to influence food sustenance, especially in developing countries. Leading scholars and economists across the globe have extensively released publications in that regard, and the view is unanimous: The next crop of millionaires in Africa will come from the agribusiness sector.

After the Covid-19 pandemic hit, corporate and private businesses have taken financial hits resulting in massive pay cuts for employees – or, the less pleasant and life-changing job layoffs and contract terminations.

Agribusiness beckons.

Sheriff Poultry Farm in Bamburi, Mombasa is a classic study on how a well-thought out investment in this sector can turn around plummeting fortunes. What’s more? Improving the livelihood of several lads by generating wage-paying jobs.

The founder of the robust poultry farm is an energetic, jovial lad – perhaps, early 30s’ – and has clocked a decade in a regional cement manufacturing company. He’s Abubakar Mwinyi, but known in the sprawling Bamburi Mwisho hood simply as Sheriff.

In January, just a month after the first case of the pandemic had broken, a third of the employees had received a letter from HR that declined to renew their contracts.

Thankfully, the company had awarded a severance package.

Sheriff didn’t grow up in a farming household, and didn’t have much experience. He had to learn from scratch. Sheriff sourced for online manuals and joined digital farming platforms. After lots of research, he settled on poultry, for several reasons.

The capital required doesn’t break the bank. It’s not labor intensive, and is flexible – start small – lower the risks. He didn’t need much land, his courtyard would be apt.

After a tiered chicken structure by a local fundi, Sheriff visited a hatchery in Kilifi County, and bought 50 chicks – one month’s old. His research sparked his interest in the Ken-Bro variety. This breed is versatile, either for eggs or as table meat.

It has notable resistance to disease compared to purebred layers, and attains weight for meat in just 3 months. If one opts for eggs, they require 6 months.

Sheriff was eyeing the meat business – cafés, restaurants and eateries. He also enjoyed home grown advantage – well known. He had ready market.

One month in, the entrepreneur realized how costly the venture is. The birds were fully house-bred, meaning the feeds cost twice as much as a similar project would cost in free range option. They were eating into his savings – poultry feeds are costly.

At 3 months, Sheriff sold the entire flock to a local café owner, at a good market price. He realized profit – but, at this stage – he valued the experience more. The first flock was his first dive into the deep end of the pool.

Using the earnings, he leased some space from his next door neighbor and fenced it. Now, he could rear his next flock partly in a deep litter system, and free range. After the usual fumigation and sanitation of the premises, he had doubled his purchase – he brought in 100 birds.

Since, Sheriff Poultry Farm has grown in leaps and bounds. It has diversified to host turkeys, water ducks and guinea fowls. The farm formulates own feeds.

Abubakar credits his success to a good relationship with Co-op Bank. After his first sale, Co-op Bank had assisted him register an M-Pesa Till number at no cost for his business – and linked it to his bank account.

Now, through New Co-op Bank Internet Banking, Abubakar easily monitors his account through his mobile phone. It’s now easier to pay for feeds or raw materials directly from his account, pay salaries. He gets to pay his utility bills – water and electricity bills conveniently using his phone.

It’s easy to self-register on New Co-op Bank Internet Banking, just click here, and enjoy the world of banking at your fingertips!

How muggers strike in the middle of a crowd on a busy pavement, and no one’s the wiser!

Posted on by Kibaki Muthamia

A lot of people cannot really describe the moments leading to their first near-death experiences. It often passes either in a hazy blur, or in long, painstakingly slow seconds. The sudden surge of adrenaline may come differently in people – excited, goose-bumps, dazed, confused. It depends on what state one is at the time.

Imagine you work in the CBD, running an electronics shop with a few assistants in a side street off Luthuli Avenue. The pandemic is still causing havoc across the globe, and locally, the curfew hour just got extended to 9pm. Imagine that you’ve released your staff at 8pm, and left the premises shortly after.

You stroll towards Ronald Ngala Street. There’s the usual crowd, also in a rush to beat the curfew. Its classic Nairobi streets at night – there’s the intermittent hawker displaying clothes and hats at every street light. There’s the usual cacophony from the bikes, cars and Matatu vans with blaring music.

A couple of yards to the bus terminus, you stop for a minute for a bite of roast maize. This is not a break from your routine. This is your usual vendor, and though you don’t know the lad’s name, you briefly nod in greeting, and he acknowledges. He’s listening to some music on earphones.

Imagine you are marinating your half-piece of roast maize with lemon dipped in pepper powder. Kenyans are peculiar, eh? Your mind is drifting as it often does – how many more passengers till the next outward bus fills up? Is my mask on well? Will the president lift the county lockdown soon – I don’t have enough food to last us a week more….

You feel your rucksack slipping from your left shoulder. You always carry it on one strap. There’s not much in it. Just a scarf, some insurance journals, a small thermos flask and a phone charger.

You heave it up. A thing everyone does on auto-pilot.

Except, it feels too light. And, weird.

Immediately, you notice there’s a man on either side of you with masks on. And, they’re standing awfully close – too close for comfort – considering this is a maize roasting stand.

You try to turn, and realize you can’t. There’s someone else behind you, and taller – with something pointy pressed on your back.

Then, it hits you – Oh My God! Am Getting Robbed!

It gets the heart racing, just imagining it, right?

But that exactly happened to Michael Tanui, a middle-aged father of two, who lives in Kahawa. In his own words, a ‘seasoned’ Nairobi dweller, he didn’t expect to get robbed in the middle of a busy pavement with his favorite roast-maize guy in front of him.

Speaking of it a week after, he admits to getting frozen in the moment. It took a few seconds, but in his mind, it felt like an eternity. He’d felt the guy behind him run his fingers into his pockets and pick his wallet, then his phone. Some crazy thoughts had flooded his mind.

The maize guy is wearing an Ankara fabric mask.

It must have been minutes before he shook himself out of the reverie. He’d seen the maize guy handing him a crumpled fifty shilling note, and some coins.

‘Wameenda na vitu zako. Shika fare utanilipa kesho boss’.

He hadn’t said anything, just turned and walked in a daze towards the nearest bus.

At home, that’s when the shaking started. Mercifully, the kids had already gone to bed. His wife was quick to overcome the shock. She’d turned on his computer, and asked him to log into the New Co-op Internet Banking.

The New Co-op Internet Banking allows Co-op Bank clients to quickly block lost or stolen Co-op Bank cards. When they took his wallet, they’d taken his ID cards, Coop Bank Visa cards and other documents. When he thinks of it, Tanui admits his wife probably saved them more problems by blocking the cards.

Since the incident, Tanui hardly carries any cash or valuable belongings. Oh, he’s also changed his roast-maize guy.