Iringa Hope visits 2014: Mkwawa

Mkawa is a suburb of Iringa Town, so our drive was only about 15 minutes. The Mkwawa SACCOS was registered a little over a year ago. Most of the members work at jobs in town during the week and go to their shambas (small farms), which are on the outskirts of the city, on Saturday. Consequently, our visit today was with the SACCOS officers instead of the whole group. Itiweni and Peter often give seminars here so our most important task at Mkwawa was to speak with the officers for updates on how things are going.

We timed our visit to Mkwawa so that we wouldn’t interrupt the Saturday school children with their marching and singing. When we got to Mkwawa the chairman and treasurer were waiting for us so our meeting started promptly, a rare experience.

Last year Mkwawa had 29 members and a little over 7,000,000 TZS that we had arranged for them. This year they have 38 members and 12,000,000 – so where did the extra 5,000,000 TZS come from? Their SACCOS has been selling shares and taking in savings at a good rate. They have also earned over 500,000 TZS in profits, which is a good profit for a SACCOS of their size.

The Mkwawa SACCOS has 5 members waiting to join. They think that they could easily end the year with over 60 members – if they want to. Right now they have enough capital so that all of the members who apply can get a loan. They are concerned that if they grow too fast, this will change. This last year they had 100% repayment of loans. They only made 23 loans, but they tell us that is all that applied. They have many members who belong for the purpose of saving, which is very good.

Since Mkwawa is in the city, we suspected that their SACCOS may be making more loans for shops and raising livestock – but that was not the case; most of their loans were taken out for agricultural purposes. The officers extended thanks to Iringa Hope for the help they have received. They told us that we have loaned them “hooks” and that their members have used these hooks to catch lots of “fish”.

They would like to open an MPESA shop (MPESA is a cell phone based system to send money and pay bills.). They had sent in a business plan to our competition last year but did not win. They told us that they think this will attract members to their church as well as make a little money for their SACCOS. The economics are not bad. For every 1,000 TZS they take in they will be paid 4 TZS. This may not sound like a lot, but with their location they should be able to average a few million TZS a day. This would net them $10/day or a few hundred a month.

Our interview today was with Jefa Duma, the chairman of the SACCOS. He is 59, married, and has three children. Both he and his wife are members of this SACCOS. He tells us that he has a shamba a little ways from town that he uses to supplement his other income. Last year he borrowed $460 to farm maize. After he sold his crop and paid his bills he made a $400 profit. He explained that maize prices were very low and he hired much of the work so his profit was less than others. He hires 10 workers for planting season and 5 for weeding during the growing season – quite a sizeable impact on jobs in his area. All of his profits are being put back into his farm.

One of the SACCOS members, Leonard Chun’gunge, came into the office for an interview. Leonard is 51, married and has 4 children. He has been a member of this SACCOS for 3 years. He farms 10 acres. His last loan was for $1,000 which he used to buy fertilizer and hire help for his farm. After he paid his bills he had earned $1,350. He employs 6 people full time and 10 part time on his farm. He farms in addition to his other work in town.

When we finished our interviews we went to see the new Mkwawa church. They are plastering the inside walls now. The church can hold about 1,200 people, so two services could provide space for over 2,400 people a Sunday. They are planning to rent out their old church for weddings, meetings, etc. The new church will provide a place for larger events as well as church services.

We have enjoyed a much-appreciated, quiet afternoon with a mix of rain and sunshine. We keep tabs on the weather in the upper Midwest. Your snow is making Tom jealous.