Started in 1995, the micro-finance institution has evolved from traditional to corporate banking but maintains its community development orientation.

The cosmopolitan Muyuka situated some 25-30 kilometres from the South West Regional capital of Buea is endowed with both enormous natural and human potentials that make business thrive in the town which is predominantly agricultural. The booming agricultural sector necessitated the creation of a category three micro-finance structure known in French as  Mutuelles Communautaires de Croissance (MC2).

According to the Muyuka Branch Manager, Fidelis Taku, MC2 Muyuka opened in 1995 as a village bank which today practices corporate banking with a membership of 4,380 members. “Being a category III micro-finance we deal with members and not customers”, impacting a lot of things in Muyuka in general”, the branch manager told CT on Tuesday. With members comprising people from all walks of life (farmers, contractors, traders, civil servants amongst others) the manager revealed that MC2 is not only about banking but also entails sensitizing their members on what banking is all about. Thus, “they have the opportunity to express their views since MC2 is people-oriented.  

Fidelis Taku averred that the Muyuka community is reaping enormously from the structure which, he said, is the people’s barn.  It does not only sponsor contracts both government and private, but also assists farmers with small-scale loans. “We sponsor government contracts and big corporations like CDC”, he said. “MC2 implanted in this very community is a wonderful thing. I will tell you that MC2 Muyuka got it grounds because of the way the people embraced it.

MC2 Muyuka deals with all classes of people especially agricultural producers, cocoa buyers, small-scale farmers. We even go right to the grassroots meeting even vegetable farmers”, the branch manager noted. He further stated that the structure in spite of their little resources to bring the community together; advise them on how to go about other productions. “MC2 has impacted a lot of things in this Muyuka. You see many houses build today they will tell you that it is the help of MC2, the parking lot at the Muyuka State Counsel’s office, the old foot bridge in Muyuka constructed some years ago are all fruits of the MC2”, be boasted.

Like any other micro-finance institution, MC2 has its own challenges which the branch Manager summarised as the lack of public trust whereby some people nurse fears based on their experiences with other micro-finance structures that closed down even before they started. He also decried the habit of reluctance in paying back loans on time by some individuals.  It makes it a little difficult when people borrow money and refuse to pay on time. My advice is that for MC2 to run properly, it’s important for them to borrow wisely and pay promptly”, he cautioned.