History of STECCUL
CO-OPERATIVES COME about as a result of a need, especially when a need for a service is recognised in a community by its citizens and they seek help to put hands and hearts together to start a business venture. Out of the realisation of this need, St Elizabeth Cooperative Credit Union Limited (STECCUL) came to fruition.
The citizens association of Santa Cruz helped to do many things in the town, including the acquisition of the 11-acre property that was received from Kaiser Bauxite Limited to start the building of the St Elizabeth Technical High School in 1962. The active role of this civic group made many more strides,
and in the early 1970s when Trevor Myers, Stanford Birthright, Loxley Beadle, and May White identified the need for a source of funds to provide loans to improve the social and economic livelihood of the citizens of Santa Cruz, the credit union was formed and was later registered in 1972. The operations started inside the store of Trevor Myers and later on the office moved to Main Street, Santa Cruz, where it was operated, rent free, for many years.
PIONEERS
Some of the other pioneers including Erland Phillips, Isaac Crooks, Maisie Johnson, Janet Daley, and Pauline Grindley were among some of the early employees. Rev Oswald Thoubourne has made many claims that he was responsible for the start. He was a senior government officer in the
Ministry of Agriculture and he used to journey to St Elizabeth after work, “stop in Mandeville for a cup of coffee” and then journey to Santa Cruz to meet with Myers and others to put things in place for the operations of the credit union.
Rev Oswald Thoubourne went on to become president of the Jamaica Co-operative Credit Union League (JCCUL), president of NUCS, president of the Caribbean Confederations of Credit Unions (CCCU), and was an executive member of the World Council of Credit Unions (WCCU).
Neville Rhone, a field officer at the JCCUL was assigned the task to put in place a new board and to find a manager. He was assisted by Keith Hall who was responsible for the accounting of the credit union business.
A new manager was identified in 1980, Fitz Rowe. Renford Douglas was elected as the new president of the board of directors. He also held the position of president of the ALPART Employees Credit Union. Under the stewardship of Fitz Rowe, general manager and president, Renford Douglas, an inaugural strategic planning retreat was organised. This involved the board, credit and supervisory committees, management and staff resulting in a 10-year development plan. Renford Douglas later became president of the JCCUL, CCCU and a director and executive member at the WCCU.
In 1980, the credit union experienced growing pains, and as a result, organised a parish-wide marketing blitz which resulted in an increase in membership to 1,000 and $300,000 in assets. The co-op was overwhelmed by the massive growth and experienced challenges as the infrastructure, management and staff was not in place to accept the new shift and the emerging business opportunities. The credit union has grown from assets of $300,000 in 1981 to an asset base of more than $1.1 billion in 2011.
The credit union is proud of its growth in assets, but the real story is in its role as a community development organisation, transforming the lives of the people in the parish. Transforming young men into businessmen, students to scholars and subsistence farmers to commercial farmers; STECCUL has been impacting the lives of many.
SERVICE TO MEMBERS
Its role in assisting basic school, youth clubs, youth sport competitions, and assisting the parish with leadership, are some of the important stories that we are proud of. STECCU is not a bank but a financial co-operative whose objective is to provide a service to its members and to improve their socio and economic outlook.
The credit union operates three service centres and a head office, and is also using the available technology to provide 24/7 service to its members. Members can now have access to their accounts using the 24/7 audio teller system and STECCUL home CU Internet banking. Members can also use their Easi Access Cards to withdraw money from their Easi Loan or their Easi Access Accounts at any automatic banking Machine.
The credit union has been duly served by a cadre of great and innovative volunteers and committed staff members over the period. They maintained their focus on the improvement of the members and the development of the credit union. We must use this opportunity to salute the long list of distinguished individuals who have graced the corridors of the STECCU.
The headquarters was opened in September 1989;