Features
What you get, module by module
Chama is built for how Kenyan groups actually run: an official records, a second confirms, and every member can check the result.
Members and roles
Add your members, give each a membership number, and invite them by a single-use link. Four roles — chairperson, treasurer, secretary and member — each see exactly what they should. A member's contact details are visible only to officials.
- Invitations expire and can only be used once
- An office requires a verified email address
- A group always keeps at least one chairperson
Contributions
Set your group's rule — weekly, fortnightly, monthly or quarterly — and Chama works out what each member owes from the day they joined. Members can report their own M-Pesa payment; an official confirms it.
- Expected, paid and arrears per member, at any date
- The same M-Pesa code can never be recorded twice
- Overpayments become a credit against future dues
- Receipt numbers issued on confirmation
Loans
Applications, approval, disbursement and repayment — each a separate step with its own authorisation. Interest is configurable per group, and the repayment schedule is generated when the money actually leaves.
- Flat or reducing-balance interest
- Eligibility from a multiple of the member's savings
- Repayments applied penalty → interest → principal, oldest first
- A loan can never be disbursed beyond the group's cash
Expenses and cashbook
Expenses are submitted, approved by a second official, then paid. Only paid expenses touch the cash balance, so an approved-but-unpaid cost never understates what the group holds.
- Categories, payees and receipt attachments
- Reconciliation against cash actually counted
- Opening balance for groups moving from paper
Meetings and governance
A meeting calendar, attendance, minutes, resolutions with recorded votes, and action items with owners. Approved minutes are locked so the record of a decision cannot drift.
- Attendance register per meeting
- Resolutions with votes for, against and abstaining
- Action items with owners and due dates
Reports and transparency
Every report is generated from the live records — member statements, arrears, the loan portfolio, income and expenditure, and the cashbook. Exports respect who is asking: a member gets their own statement, not everyone's.
- PDF for the AGM, CSV for your own analysis
- Members see their own position any time
- Audit log of every financial change, for the chairperson
Coming next
Automatic M-Pesa collection through Safaricom Daraja, WhatsApp reminders, and investment-portfolio tracking. Chama is fully usable today without them — M-Pesa codes are recorded and verified by your own officials.