Opening a Bank Account

Back in January, I had talked to a manager at Barclays Bank about opening an account so the funds we needed would be readily available.  He told me then that it was necessary to have a PIN for the clinic, as well as an individual PIN to open an account and have me be a signatory.  He also had offered to give us a free, no fee, account as part of their partnering to improve the community.  With our recently acquired PINs, I wanted to get the account opened as soon as possible so we could begin obtaining land or rental for the clinic, and to start getting equipment.  Eric Odida suggested I look into an account at the Credit Bank, because the manager there was part of his network, and would be able to offer us a personalized service the bigger bank could not.  Sure enough, the Kisumu Branch manager, David Ondier, was able to match the Barclays offer, and get our account set up.  After we signed all of the paperwork, he asked for my stamp. I told him I did not have one and was not sure what he was talking about. Well, it turns out that in order for a business signature to be officially recognized, it has to be stamped with an official stamp.  So where could I get this stamp?  Why just down the street at a stationery shop.  So we went down the street and found the place. They said the stamp would cost 1,600 Kenya Shillings, or about 16 US Dollars.  He asked what I wanted on the stamp, and told me to return in 3 hours and it would be ready.  I was a little surprised that they did not need any identification from me, or any paperwork documenting that the company actually existed or was registered or had a PIN, but apparently that was not required.  So three hours later, I had my stamp which then made my signature legal.  How it managed to do that, I have no idea, but the account was now in place.

The first order of business was to make a trial deposit, to make sure all the numbers were in order.  The funds for the clinic are being collected through African Restoration Ministries in Independence, MO., and the treasurer, Brian Mundy, was able to get the trial run done, and the bulk of the funds transferred without problem.  Well sort of. I got a message from the bank manager saying that the funds had been transferred, and would be available as soon as “due diligence” had been done.  Because of the issues of money laundering and corruption going on in the country, it is required that the sender gives a letter verifying the funds have been properly sent.  I’m not exactly sure how a letter is better than the routing information showing the banks and accounts that the money came through, but we work with the system we have.  ARM sent the letter, and we now have a fully functioning bank account!