Opportunity Bank has announced plans to digitise rural savings groups in a bid to boost access to formal financial services and improve efficiency for thousands of members.
Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs), the backbone of community-level finance often operate manually, a process that is slow, prone to errors, and limits access to mainstream banking. The bank’s new initiative, dubbed Dream Save, seeks to change that by creating digital profiles for savings groups and recording their activities on an easy-to-use platform.
The tool will streamline group management, meeting records, and financial transactions, while also improving transparency among members. According to Opportunity Bank, digitisation could cut meeting times by up to 65%, enhance bookkeeping, and strengthen trust within the groups. So far, nearly 1,000 groups representing around 22,000 members in five countries have been digitised.
Atul Tandon, CEO of Opportunity International US, said the initiative builds on the organisation’s longstanding mission to empower smallholder farmers and underserved communities. He recounted the story of their first client, Carlos Moreno, whose life was transformed by a small loan an example of how access to capital can break the cycle of poverty.
Tandon highlighted the organisation’s growing agricultural finance portfolio, its support for refugees, and its educational programs that have reached millions of students. He urged continued partnerships to drive innovation in financial services and ensure farmers can achieve economic stability.
Speaking at the launch, Bank of Uganda Governor Michael Atingi-Ego stressed the importance of a “digital financial passport” for farmers, enabling them to build a verifiable financial history that can open doors to credit and other services.
He called for collaboration between academia, research institutions, and financial service providers to tackle challenges facing sub-Saharan agriculture, particularly in the face of climate change. With increased innovation and private sector investment, Atingi-Ego projected substantial growth in agribusiness financing by 2040.
For rural savings groups, the Dream Save initiative could mean more than just convenience it could be the gateway to a stronger, more inclusive financial future.