Stress Free Investment Club (SFIC) has announced that the club will soon start lending services to its members as one of the ways to support its members.
According to club treasurer Ronald Sserwanja, SFIC incomes have increased by 15%. This is attributed to the interests from both investments in UAP and Treasury Bonds as well as the annual subscription fee.
“The UAP investment has increased by 23% (over Sh141m), whereas the TBOND remains unchanged. Our total investments as of June 30, 2024 are to the tune of Sh749m. Members are encouraged to adhere to timely saving so as to take advantage of the compounding interest from UAP,” said Sserwanja while presenting on Saturday at the reading out of the SFIC Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended June 30, 2024.
The SFIC visionary, Yesigye Brian Bravo, said that with the new lending system they have put in place, they wanted to create an impact on their own members.
“This is member savings, where we are able to lend them at a very small percentage of 5% per three months. The opening up of lending is that we want our members to be free from the most expensive lending rates in our country, and for us, we are lending our own money, not money borrowed from any institution or anywhere,” he said.
Yesigye added that SFIC is trying to have members with financial freedom, and they thought that as they look forward to achieving their goal, they are able to help our members so that they don’t get stuck. The club will think about lending to outsiders in the future.
“There are members who have school fees issues like any other person who can have and who can run short of a little money, like $500,000 or $1 million, and we say, Why go to a money lender that is very expensive yet we have our little money? We corrected. We can ask the member to come and get this little money, sort it yourself, and pay it back,” he added.
He highlighted that, due to expensive loans and higher interest rates, the club wants to save its members from expensive interest rates from money lenders and banks.
“Our country has one of the most expensive interest rates. We are not competing with anyone; we are not competing with any bank; we are not competing with any Sacco; but we are just trying to put up something that can help our members without expecting much return on it, but by helping ourselves using our own money that we have saved as club members,” Yesigye added.
The Stress-Free Investment Club emerged as a beacon of hope during the COVID-19 pandemic, uniting individuals from Uganda and the diaspora. What started with a few people confined to their homes has blossomed into a community of nearly 300 members.
As of June 30, 2024, and the statement of income and expenditure, statement of changes in accumulated funds, and statement of cash flows for the period then ended, the net surplus of the investment club for the year under review (ended June 30, 2024) was ₹73 million.
However, last financial year, as of June 2023, the club’s asset value stood at a robust Sh641 million. With investments in Bank of Uganda security bonds and Unit Trust with UAP, the club is on track to surpass sh1.8 billion within the next five years. The club’s investments in UAP alone are worth over sh271 million, and the accrued interest from total deposits exceeds sh30 million.
According to the Executive Director, Ronald Sebunya, the club membership stands at 235, out of which 126 (53%) are actively saving. These are members whose total savings are over UGX 2,000,000.
Sebunya explained that the objective is to generate an average return of 12% per year over the long term.
“We need to be more careful on how we spend the money; the overall goal is to accumulate a net worth of $500,000 (sh1.8b) in the space of 5 years to start addressing the investment club’s main objective of building a condominium for each member,” he said.
He pointed out that in their 5-year plan, the club objective is to grow 100% capital, and in 10 years, they hope to grow 70% capital and preserve 30%.
The UAP investment accounts have increased by 23%, growing from over Sh140 million to Sh471 million, whereas the TBOND remains unchanged.
“Our total investments as of June 30, 2024, are to the tune of Sh749 million. Members are encouraged to adhere to timely saving so as to take advantage of the compound interest from UAP,” Sebunya pointed out.
With investments in Bank of Uganda security bonds and Unit Trust with UAP, the club is on track to surpass sh1.8b within the next five years.