International credit union leaders converged on GAC 2024 to take lessons home

Worldwide Foundation For Credit Unions’ 2024 Cooperative Voices event at #GAC2024

Each year on the eve of America’s largest credit union conference, Worldwide Foundation for Credit Unions hosts its annual Cooperative Voices event to share examples of how they are working with World Council of Credit Unions to close gaps for credit unions and their members around the world.

In 2024, the event featured a record number of participants and guests from Africa, all brought to Washington, D.C. by George Ombado, Executive Director of the African Confederation of Cooperative Savings and Credit Associations (ACCOSCA), to attend America’s Credit Unions’ 2024 Governmental Affairs Conference (GAC).

“For us, this was deliberate,” explained Ombado, who invited and was accompanied by Simon Kiprono Chelugi, Secretary of the Ministry of Co-operatives & Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises of Kenya, and Karabo Socraat Gare, Botswana’s Minister of Entrepreneurship.

“And we hope that every year we’ll be bringing one or two cabinet secretaries. And the objective for that is for the cabinet ministers in the government who set the policy to see the power and influence of credit unions. Our main objective is to promote the credit union model within our governments across the continent,” explained Ombado.

Joining those ministers on the trip were several African credit union and league professionals as well, including Kefilwe Masalila, who leads the Botswana Savings and Credit Association.

“Last year we hosted the 2023 SACCA Congress, which is more like GAC for the continent of Africa, in collaboration with ACCOSCA. The President of Botswana was present, and he made a commitment that he wants to collaborate with ACCOSCA in revitalizing the cooperative movement in Botswana. That is why we have this opportunity where the cooperative minister also made this trip, so we learn best practices that are happening in the U.S., and we learn ourselves to take back home and implement,” said Masalila.

They’re coming to America from everywhere

While not every country or continent sent the number of representatives that Africa did, more and more international credit union professionals are attending GAC each year to learn just how they can grow their movements.

‘It brought me back because it was so exciting to see the amount, the volume of credit unions that are here and how much they’re doing compared to the U.K. We’ve got so much to learn in the U.K.,” said Karen Bennett, CEO of Enterprise Credit Union, based in Liverpool, United Kingdom, who attended her second straight GAC in 2024. “The U.K. is very small, credit union wise. The average credit union would be 15 million (British) pounds in assets, and to see you guys, and the scale of the credit unions, it’s just amazing.”

While some are looking for inspiration on how to grow and thrive, others come looking for ways to merely survive.

“In New Zealand, we’re so down on credit unions now, down to four, soon to be three, from a height of nearly 400 in the 1970s and 80s,” explained Simon Scott, CEO of First Credit Union in Hamilton, New Zealand. “So, we’ve got to be very outward looking in New Zealand to get education and align ourselves with what credit unions are doing (elsewhere) and keeping the philosophy, without losing it.”

Each year, those who make the long journey from overseas to attend GAC leave with more contacts and potential solutions.

“We’ve done a couple of things regarding marketing and the member journey last year, we’ve implemented lots of that,” said Bennett.

“I believe the strongest movement for credit unions is in America. So, we’ve ended up planning many things that we’ve implemented on the continent of Africa after returning from GAC,” added Ombado.

At World Council of Credit Unions, we are excited that our international movement has another chance to connect with their American counterparts one more time this year, at the 2024 World Credit Union Conference, co-hosted with America’s Credit Unions in Boston, July 21-24. We hope to see you there as well.