Why we built Chama
Chamas and merry-go-rounds already move billions and build real trust. We set out to give them honest bookkeeping — without changing what works.
Across Kenya and East Africa, millions of people save together. They form a chama to pool money and lend it back to each other, or a merry-go-round that rotates the whole pot to one member each month. These groups work because the members know and trust one another.
But the bookkeeping is hard. Cash goes missing between meetings. One person keeps the ledger in a notebook, and when a number is disputed, there’s no easy way to settle it. Good groups spend real energy just keeping their records straight.
A shared record nobody can quietly edit
We built Chama around a single idea: the record of who paid what should be append-only. Every contribution, loan, and repayment is one entry that is never edited or deleted. If something needs correcting, that’s a new, visible entry — so the full history always stays intact and every member can see it.
Mobile money where it helps, cash where it doesn’t
Money can move by M-Pesa when that’s easiest, or be recorded by hand when it isn’t. Both live in the same ledger. The app keeps working offline and syncs safely when you’re back online, so a patchy network never costs you a record.
The group stays in charge
We don’t run your group. You set the contribution amount, the interest method, the loan rules, and the payout order — and you elect your own officers. We just make the rules easier to keep.
If you run a savings group and want to help shape what comes next, join the waitlist.