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By Debo Oladimeji
With Cloud Co-operative, Nigerians now have the opportunity to join an online co-operative society. Cloud Co-operative is a more flexible and a very secured and smart way for people to save their money, with over one hundred subscribers after its pre-launch in August.
According to the founder of Cloud Cooperative, Oluwaseun Babalola Bamiro, the launching of the prestigious Nigeria based and the first online cooperative in the world: Cloud Cooperative will take place on November 27 in Lagos.
“I am going to officially tell the world the vision and mission of our business. It is going to be a very powerful launch. We are the first online cooperative society in the world that has a data base.”
Bamiro, who doubled as the CEO of YNorth, Nigeria largest indigenous fashion brand with over 60 outlet nationwide, also the Managing Director (MD) TheFastlane and Co said that Cloud Co-operative is going to create more employment. This is because it has lots of people to work with.
He disclosed that the initiative to start Cloud Co-operative came during Covid: “When one of my friends who is involved in co-operative needed to travel to attend a cooperative meeting in Ilorin. He had to travel all the way from Ibadan to Ilorin. I was like what other ways can you do this thing differently?”
“He said it is compulsory for him to attend. Then, I said that means there is a niche in this cooperative and the niche is cloud. That means that everything that can be done in the mainstream co-operative society, we have to put it online.”
He said that the first thing he did was to think of a suitable name for it. “Name has to be the first thing you have to pick when doing business. I started thinking of a name to use which will not affect the word co-operative; so that people can actually identify with what we are into.”
“I knew that anything online is cloud. That is why I came up with cloud cooperatve.com.ng. We registered it as Cloud Co-operative Multipurpose Society: where members can save for six months and get access to double up whatever they have saved as a loan. You can become a member just with three thousand naira.”
He disclosed that they have created several platforms in which they can work better than mainstream cooperative societies.
“Members can also have access to dividends at the end of the year when we are doing our AGM. Right now, buy their data, pay cable TV, electricity bills, and everything on our mobile and web apps.”
He added that people in other parts of the world can be a member of Cloud Co-operative. It has an app that allows members to have access to their account all over the world.
“The uniqueness of cloud is actually that fact that members having access to it anywhere across the world. You can be in Canada and be a part of cloud cooperative or in the US or anywhere in the country. Also you can have a virtual meeting with us from your house.
“You will prefer us to other co-operative societies because our co-operative is not run by individuals alone, it is run by individuals with business acumen.”
Bamiro said that unlike in the normal co-operatives where even non-expert can become a co-operative chairman.
“What do you expect when people who don’t have enough experience about cooperatives are meant to head cooperatives?
“I have met with several cooperatives which they will say their co-operatives have problem or a member will say that cooperative is not giving them money. Or they don’t have funds in their co-operative because people are mismanaging co-operative funds. This is because the co-operative is not being handled by business men who understand how to turn around money.
“So we are bringing a team of experts who understand business, who can give us a 21 century co-operative society, not the ones that they will go and use co-operative money to build house. They will not refund because they have used the money to build house and nobody is renting the house.”
“These are not new generation ways of being smart. That is why we have Board of Directors who is actually into business, insurance. That is the uniqueness and the difference in our co-operative.”
He stressed that he has trusted Board of Directors who is well experienced. Some of them have close to 20 to 30 years of experience in their business. They are not just CEOs but chairmen of several multinational companies, they understand money and how businesses can outlive their owners.
He said that they have people on the board who are to actually make sure that members’ funds are secured. Cloud Co-operative also has an insurance policy that actually helps to insure people’s funds.
“That is the way business runs. You have to organize and have a good board of directors who can actually turn around businesses. We are currently in a different game. Technology has actually helped us to be stable. See how people were scared of moving around money but now you can see everything had stabilized. We cannot make the same mistake all those people made. We have advanced technology now.”
He said that their members should not be scared of how they are going to do it right. “Our board members are certified business men.
“I did a pre-launch in August and now we have over one hundred people who have subscribed to be members of Cloud Co-operative and I tell you they are saving their money. They are proud of it. Some are still having doubt in us. But many are actually contributing and ready to support this idea to go on and on.
“To be a member of our cooperative, you have to save between five thousand to one million monthly. You have to pick a particular plan. We have several plans: gold, silver, platinum, diamond. So a member must choose any of these plans.
“We also have loans for agriculture, personal loans, business and emergency loans. If you just need quick sum of money to do something and you cannot get access to your bank, you can quickly get a loan from us as a member of Cloud Co-operative and we give it to you.”