A rural savings and credit system of pure genius.
In rural Uganda, women groups formed with mutual trust, are implementing a rolling banking system which allows them to save and borrow within themselves simultaneously.
Ekibiina
So it is called, the system involves all members contributing a designated amount of money and lending the whole bunch to one individual. The designated amount, x, is a manageable target, which the women can afford to save in a short time span such as a week or a month. However when combined the resultant sum, nx; say 30x, is a large amount which can be an effective loan to the woman receiving it.
And forth it rolls…
As in a circle, the next woman gets this loan and so forth, until all women have a managed to save 30x in a period of 30 weeks/months, and managed to get a loan of that equivalency at some point along the circle.
Sounds like a cool game?
Like any board game commercial, let’s describe some rules of gameplay:
- The order in which participants receive the loans is random and selected before beginning the cycle.
- Mutual trust is the insurance that someone who gets a loan early won’t run off and stop making savings.
- Men are allowed too.
Rotational savings in MyFy
We marvel at the genius of this system and turn to it to facilitate financing for entrepreneurs.
We have baked this feature into our MyFy app. Download the app, create a savings group and invite your colleagues with a click-link and we’ll handle the rest.
