Africa’s rural poor do not have to be poor any more thanks to a ground breaking initiative that encourages savings and micro business start up schemes.  One such scheme is pooling together of resources into a “village savings pot” (VSP).   VSP’s are informal self-help financial support groups of 20-30 members predominantly female heads-of-households or  youth groups. Such VSP schemes go by such names as “Sindikiza” (Top up), “Merry-Go-Round”, “Ji-inue” (Lift each other), “Jaza Kibaba” (Fill to the brim) “Pokezana” (Pass the baton), “Pamoja” (Together), etc.

A group of women and/or youth meet once a month in the home of one of their members to avail themselves of working capital and loans from the “savings pot”. For these youth and women, the self-supporting group is regarded as a safe place to save money and offer mutual support, skill training, networking, mentoring and motivation. 

How much?: Loans normally start at £50 (about Shs5,000) or £100 (about Shs10,000) and are linked to individual’s savings participation such that the more one saves, the more she can borrow.   The normal loan period is four months and must be repaid monthly.