Elijah Wamalwa, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Director of the Co-operative Bank of South Sudan speaking during a joint press conference in Juba on Wednesday, 13th Sept 2023: Photo Credit: Co-Bank.

The Co-operative Bank of South Sudan this month will host a development summit for the empowerment of grassroots communities through agri-business investments in the country.

According to the Bank, the development summit is due on 27^th September to coincide with its 10-year anniversary since the establishment of the institution.

The theme for the Co-Operative Bank’s Development Summit 2023 is “Partnership for Sustainable Development in South Sudan” with emphasis on sustainable growth through agribusiness value chain development.

Its key services include investing in agri-business through Cooperatives, enhancing financial inclusivity, incubation, and capacity building, and promoting initiatives on climate resilience and the blue economy.

Elijah Wamalwa, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Director of the Co-operative Bank says the bank is planning to bring different players together to promote sustainable development in South Sudan.

“We are actually bringing different players together to explore, talk a little bit more about how we can work together, and collaborate to promote sustainable development in South Sudan,” said Wamalwa.

‘We will be looking at areas like sustainable growth through agribusiness value chain development,” he said.

“We will be looking at how we can work together to empower grassroots communities by investing in agri-business through cooperatives.”

“We will be looking at enhancing financial inclusivity, incubation, and capacity building, we will also be talking about promoting initiatives on climate resilience and blue economy.”

According to Elijah, the Bank’s 10^th anniversary will unlock opportunities including sharing achievements and challenges of the commercial financial institution as well as working closely with other players.

“We are also celebrating our achievements. Co-Bank is one of the tear 1 Banks in South Sudan, there is a lot we have done. We have been a cartel to the traders, and we have been a leading lender in this market even though many banks have moved away from lending,” said Wamalwa.

“We have worked with different categories of clients to support their trading activities and we want to scale it up and enhance,” he said.

“We want to talk about how we can overcome challenges like the challenges of curatorial in South Sudan how else can we secure our loans without necessarily asking for land and property from a landing perspective we see that as an achievement having supported so many traders.”

According to Elijah, the Cooperative Bank has over the years supported many traders, schools, and seed producers with construction activities in South Sudan.

In 2019 and 2022, the Cooperative Bank of South Sudan was voted the best bank of the year during the Chamber Quality Awards.

The Bank is a local financial institution incorporated in 2012 and became operational in September 2013.