Operation Grenmc Launch-1st May,2025

Theme: Community participation for a greener City
The greening Mbarara City exercise, a collaboration between the Mbarara City Traders Association (MBACITA), Municipal council and private organizations, had drawn dozens of volunteers—but none stood out quite like the team from Butuuro SACCO! Clad in white branded T-shirts and wide smiles, a section of Butuuro SACCO staff spent 1st May, 2025 (labour day) like any other normal working day while planting trees in Mbarara City in an event dubbed

OPERATION GRENMC LAUNCH.
Fidra, the Mbarara City Branch Manager, knelt down and showed a small group of boba boda riders how to care for the saplings.
“This one,” she said, gently touching a young tree, “will grow as you grow. If you water it and protect it, one day it will give you shade.”
But what stood out most wasn’t just the trees, it was the collaboration. It was the laughter shared while digging holes, and the way SACCO staff patiently demonstrated to bodaboda cyclists how to care for the young plants.

At the end of the day, the team gathered under the shades of Penpal Gardens. Sweaty, a little tired, but visibly proud, they shared a meal and laughter. Mr. Robert Mugabe Kakyebezi, the Mayor of Mbarara, flanked by Municiapal leaders and other speakers, offered words of gratitude.
“Today we have done more than plant trees. We’ve planted a relationship between the city and one of its strongest financial institutions.
Butuuro SACCO has shown what true community partnership looks like not just by offering financial services, but by investing in the health and beauty of our shared spaces.”

The SACCO’s Marketing and Business Development Manager, Mr. Agaba Evason echoed the sentiment. He further asserted that the SACCO with the support of her partner aBi Finance are making a lot of effort to change the SACCO’s status quo in regard to ESG (Environmental and Social Governance) issues hence putting environmental conservation before anything they do. A soft applause broke out as the Chairman MBACITA stood to thank the Butuuro SACCO team. “Today, you have not just planted trees. You have planted responsibility. You have planted hope.”

For the Butuuro SACCO team, this had been more than a corporate social responsibility event. It was a reminder of their mission: To provide members with quality and affordable products and services for sustainable development—not just economically, but environmentally and socially.
As they boarded their van to return to their homes, Mr. Boona Lauben (the Mbarara City Branch Credit officer) quietly said, “Let’s come back in a year and see what we’ve started.”

And they all agreed. Because that day, as the roots of young trees took hold beneath the earth, something else had taken root in their hearts, a shared sense of purpose and pride.

Story by Agaba Evason
Marketing and Business Development Manager