My journey at Finca Uganda starts on 1st August 1997 when I joined as a Credit Officer Trainee at Central branch then located at Lumumba avenue now Ben Kiwanuka branch. At the time, Finca was an NGO (non-profit making) offering only credit to women organized in groups (referred to as village banks) under village banking. There was no access to computers by credit staff then and everything was manual, the only computers available were in Accounts department.
Two years later, I was promoted to Credit Supervisor role and one of the responsibilities on top of the other roles as Credit Supervisor was to make physical cash/loan disbursements to clients at their respective locations. Cheques would be prepared for different groups and written in my names to withdraw the cash from the banks with no security escorts and take to the respective group customers as far as Mubende, Nakasongola, Masindi, Kayunga, Lugazi, Kiboga, Luwero and around Kampala (by then there was only one branch serving all those locations). I recall one time while taking money for disbursement in Zirobwe, armed robbers intercepted us on the way, took off with all the money, our phones, and grabbed the vehicle key from the driver, leaving us there stranded. Fortunately, they did not inflict any harm on us once we surrendered the money to them.
In 2003, owing to my outstanding performance, I was promoted to the position of Branch Manager Central branch. At that time, Finca was transforming and positioning itself to become an MDI and I had the opportunity to serve on the transformation committee.
In 2004, i was transferred to Arua branch as branch Manager/Regional Operations Manager West Nile. During that time, there was a lot of insurgence in the North as Kony was making frequent ambushes along the way and vehicles could only cross Karuma Bridge in convoys escorted by UPDF.
In 2005 I was again transferred to Jinja branch, then Busia, Mbale and finally to Masaka branch, from where i joined the Compliance department in 2012, which is the current Internal Controls. For my entire journey, what has kept me going in Finca is because I like whatever I do and always committed.
I really appreciate management for trusting me and for always demonstrating its commitment to ensuring a conducive working environment for all staff.
Abbey Massa Wandoho
Internal Controls Officer.