After six months at the helm, manager, John Collins, is looking forward to a bright future for the shareholders at Mitchelstown Credit Union.
“Mitchelstown as a town has gone through some hard times and I don’t think we are out of the woods yet. The credit union is in the centre of the town, we are, if you like, at the heart of Mitchelstown. We live in challenging times but the credit union is here to help the people and we will continue to do just that,” John Collins told The Avondhu.
Mr Collins took control at a time when the credit union and the country was experiencing the worst recession for decades.
“I have seen a lot of goodwill from the public and the members. There is a strategic review of the business needed here at the credit union which is a big process and we are working through some of the changes as we speak. These changes will become more clear to the members over the coming weeks. Things have changed but we are in a period of stabilization at the moment,” Mr Collins said.
Plans for the next six months and beyond are now taking shape and John Collins is looking forward to growing the business at the credit union in Mitchelstown.
“We are all working together as a team here and we have plans going out for the next three years which we will be following, step by step. At the moment we are putting certain policies in place that will become apparent over the next few months. We have been looking at areas where we can improve service to our members. In these challenging times with people losing their jobs, we will work with the members to ensure that solutions can be found for everyone involved,” Mr Collins said.
“Our long term plan is we need to make the place slicker. We need to get back to what the credit union used to be and improve upon it in terms of efficiencies and service we are offering. We will get there. It may not happen today or tomorrow but we are taking the right steps at this stage. More of the plans will be revealed over the next few weeks,” John Collins concluded.