Iringa Hope visits 2014: A day at Isimani

After finishing our meeting at Ilambilole we head to Isimani. Normally we would go back to the tarmac and head north, but there is an easier way to get there we were told. To find our way there is a member of the Ilambilole SACCOS who will ride along (This makes 9 of us in a vehicle meant for 7 – so how many people fit in a vehicle here? One more!)

The drive took 25 minutes on a muddy track through the brush. We passed by a little village where our guide asked to be dropped off. Soon we were lost and needed to stop and ask for directions. People here are very friendly. They smile and wave as we passed, laughed a little when they learned we were lost, and generally were happy to see us.

At Isimani there were 25 people waiting to talk with us. Isimani is a new SACCOS this year. They currently have 66 members – 35 men and 31 women. Having half of them at our meeting was a good attendance.

The chairman here is a woman. She is very well organized and forceful. It is clear that everyone respects her. She had gathered the members in a small room – too small actually – so we moved the meeting outside. As we started the meeting we all give brief introductions. Most of the members remembered us from last year and greeted us by name.

Itiweni gave a class on sustaining good farming practices and record keeping. We took a survey of how many jobs these members had created this last year. There were 66 jobs created by these 35 members. The members here reported that they have been able to earn almost $2.00 for every dollar that they borrowed.

When the session was opened to questions, a primary concern is how to get more capital? The answers: save, sell shares, ask your partner, and apply to Iringa Hope (we will be sending $100,000 to our common pool this year). They wondered why their loans were limited and were told that there is a limited amount of capital so the loan committee is forced to limit the size of the loans. They also wondered why they have to borrow their funds from Iringa Hope. (We hold funds to make sure they are used appropriately.)

The members of this SACCOS are concerned about whether or not they are getting all of the funds sent to them. We were happy to have all of these questions. Clearly the people here are interested in and paying attention to their SACCOS. Tom gave a talk about how Iringa Hope works and invited them to visit the microfinance office to look at our books. Tom told them, “you own everything in Iringa Hope – we own nothing. Our records are always open.” The SACCOS needs to know that their records must also be kept open to its members. Every member has the right to see all of the SACCOS records any time. The members appeared to be very pleased with the meeting and satisfied that their concerns were addressed.

When the books were inspected we discovered that last year they had 3 loans that went late (out of 35 loans made, this is a 92% on time record). The chairwoman explains that some of the members think that this SACCOS is like the government SACCOS, that is; if they don’t repay; nothing much happens.

The chairman told us that she has met with one of the delinquent borrowers and rescheduled the loan. She feels certain that it will be repaid. And the other two? The chairman has scheduled a meeting with the village council to compel them to pay. We talked about how the terms of the loan dictate taking their savings and the savings of the two co-signer’s to collect on the loan. If that doesn't cover the amount of the loan, then their crops, animals, can be taken. If necessary the police will be called in.

The last objective of our visit was to collect borrowers’ stories. First we interviewed Emilio Lumwago, age 42. Emilio has 5 children plus one of his parents and a sister in his household. Emilio is a butcher and used his loan of 250,000 ($165) to by cows on the hoof. After selling the meat he had a profit of 300,000 ($200) which he used to buy a milking cow, so in addition to his butcher shop, he is now selling milk.

Rehema Jumba, is a 46 year old widow. Rehema has 6 children she is supporting. Rehema has a business transporting sunflower seeds to market. She first buys the seed from the farmer, then hauls the seeds, by donkey, to sunflower processing mill. She then sells the oil. She has applied for her second loan to expand her sunflower oil business. She owns 5 donkeys with adorable names: Chui, which means “cheetah”, Faras meaning “horse”, and Kengele, meaning “bell”, and she has two small ones that she calls Wadogo, which appropriately means “small ones”. Her first SACCOS loan of 400,000 TZS gave her a profit of 120,000 TZS which she used for school fees and supplies. Her next loan will be 720,000 TZS. She wanted to borrow 900,000 TZS but will receive less because there is not enough capital.

Our last interview was with Rukia Kidunu, a 49-year-old divorced woman with 2 children. She supports a total of 6 people. She first got a loan for 200,000 TZS and then 400,000 (she had asked for 600,000 but there was not enough capital). She has used her loans to develop a business selling food and chai in the village. She used her profits to pay the children’s school fees (both are in secondary school) and buy a young ox. She bought the ox so that by next year it will be old enough to be used on the farm.

This was the first full year for Isimani SACCOS. We all believe that they are off to a good start. It will be interesting to see what happens here in the years to come.