MKURANGA, Tanzania
Amina Rashid’s money used to slip through her fingers but when the 36-year-old mother of three joined a savings group and started contributing 2,000 Tanzanian shillings ($0.86) every week, she quickly saved up to $43 that she used to launch a small business.
On World Savings Day, Rashid recalls her improved financial footing that came after she secured a 300,000 Tanzanian shillings ($130) loan from the Maendeleo savings group in the Mkuranga district's Kinene village. She used the loan to invest in her small shop, where she sells basic consumer goods, including cooking gas, edible oil, rice, flour, and soap.
“I have developed the culture of saving. I spend my money carefully,” she told Anadolu Agency.
As the Maendeleo group grew, members increased weekly contributions to 5,000 Tanzanian shillings ($2) so that they could be entitled to borrow up to 1.5 million shillings ($650).
Rashid realized a good profit from her shop and spent money to purchase a motorcycle that she uses as a taxi to earn about 70,000 shillings ($30) every week.
Refined business acumen
Because of her refined business acumen, Rashid has been able to meet her growing family’s needs, including paying her children’s school fees. She has also built a three-bedroom house where she lives with her family.
Village Community Bank (VICOBA) is a grassroots micro-finance scheme designed to support viable income-generating activities for the poor, especially women working in the informal sector.
The scheme usually involves a group of 25 to 50 people who are anxious to get working capital to start their businesses.
Through VICOBA, women generate their savings to create a community-based bank.
Bangladesh model
The lending model drew inspiration from a renowned economics professor in Bangladesh and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, who in 1980s, established lending groups that provided small loans to poor women to start businesses to improve their lives.
Yunus, whose pioneering microfinance project evolved to become Grameen Bank, believed that the lack of access to capital kept women mired in poverty.
Through this lending model, members deposit a fixed amount of money into a group’s savings fund where they can request loans for income-generating activities, health care, and educational purposes.
Rashid, now eligible to borrow up to 4 million Tanzanian shillings ($1,735), has taken full advantage of the money she gets from the Maendeleo group to streamline her businesses.
She opened a restaurant in Mkuranga where she sells deliciously cooked chicken soup, rice, and ugali -- a porridge made from maize or cassava and roast meat.
Rashid’s story highlights the incredible life-changing potential of VICOBA as a source of livelihood for women.
Decision-making power
Honest Ngowi, a professor of economics at Mzumbe University in Dar es Salaam, said community banks have helped lift thousands of women out of poverty and revived the saving culture that has helped improve family welfare.
“Most women who have joined those groups feel empowered and are much more confident since they have greater decision-making power in their families,” he told Anadolu Agency.
Ngowi said the growing involvement of women in micro-finance schemes has shed light on the changing gender roles as women are increasingly getting an upper hand in household economics.
Another woman entrepreneur, Zawadi Kajiru, at the Tegeta market in Tanzania’s bustling city, is busy packing merchandise on a wooden stall for her customers.
The 39-year-old trader who sells grains, coconut, vegetables, and onions, tracks and balances her stock before the end of each business day.
With her handwritten ledger, she tallies debits and credits and briskly jots down the figures.
Kajiru, who has used the money she borrowed from the Jipemoyo group to streamline her business, reckons why it is important to keep her books in order.
“I don’t want to default any of my loans,” she told Anadolu Agency.
The Jipemoyo group was formed in 2013 to address the challenges women entrepreneurs face in accessing financial opportunities.
Kajiru, who has been a member since 2016, is no longer struggling to support her family now that she generates enough income.
“Joining a village community bank has helped me to build a home. I've also bought a big farm in Bagamoyo where I keep cattle and chicken,” she said.
Kajiru also owns a mobile money transfer shop worth 5 million shillings ($2,170) in the Mabibo area of Dar es Salaam which generates a profit of about $600 annually.
