Sylvester Kadzola

Director - Malawi Union of Savings and Credit Cooperatives (MUSCCO)

Sylvester Kadzola, a member of World Council of Credit Unions' board of directors, represents the Malawi credit union movement as a delegate of the Malawi Union of Savings & Credit Cooperatives (MUSCCO). Headquartered in Madison, Wis., USA, World Council is the leading international trade association and development agency for credit unions. Worldwide, 51,000 credit unions in 100 countries serve 196,000,000 people. The regional and national credit union and financial cooperative associations affiliated with World Council represent 57 countries around the globe.

Sylvester Kadzola holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Malawi, a master's degree in business administration from the Maastricht School of Management, was a Hubert Humphrey Fellow in economic development at American University. He is a financial cooperatives professional with more than 20 years experience in financial cooperatives development and management. Kadzola has also over the years received extensive training in credit Union management and microfinance from the University of Wisconsin, University of Colorado and Harvard University.

Kadzola is chief executive officer of the Malawi Union of Savings and Credit Cooperatives. In his home country Malawi, Kadzola is a trustee of the Natural Resources College and sits on the boards of the Malawi Microfinance Network and the Malawi Lake Basin Program, a rural livelihoods improvement program comprising a consortium of five organizations: Farmers Union of Malawi, National Smallholders Farmers Association of Malawi, Malawi Union of Savings and Credit Cooperatives, Swedish Cooperatives Centre and Vi-Agro Forestry.

Kadzola is convinced and strongly believes that, through cooperatives, Africa can escape debilitating poverty levels that afflict the vast majority of Africans. His wish is to see that all economic development planning particularly to do with rural development is centered on a cooperative development model. Kadzola believes cooperatives should be a way of life and not just project interventions.