Everything a group needs to run its money in the open

ChamaBook keeps the treasurer's book, the secretary's register and the chairperson's approvals in one place, and lets every member see their part of it. Switch on only what your group uses.

Collect money

However your members pay, the payment lands in the book against the right person, with a receipt.

  • Paybill and Buy Goods tills. Connect your group's own M-PESA Paybill or till. Payments are matched by account number or the payer's phone and posted straight away.
  • M-PESA prompts from the app. A member taps Pay, approves the prompt on their phone, and the contribution or repayment is recorded. No copying of codes.
  • Airtel Money. Groups with Airtel Money collections receive and match those payments the same way.
  • Bank statements. Import statements from Equity Bank or KCB. Deposits are matched to members and duplicates are skipped.
  • Cash and bulk entry. The treasurer records cash collected at a meeting for many members at once.
  • Contribution types and schedules. Shares, savings, welfare, registration and any other type your group uses, each with its own amount and due date.
  • Arrears and reminders. See who is behind at a glance. Reminders go out before the due date, by SMS and email.

Lend to members

Loan products set up the way your constitution says, with the arithmetic done for you.

  • Loan products. Flat or reducing-balance interest, repayment period, processing fees and limits as a multiple of savings.
  • Guarantors. Members ask others to guarantee a loan; guarantors accept or decline in the app, and their exposure is tracked.
  • Eligibility before applying. Members check how much they can borrow before they apply, so officials see fewer applications that will be turned down.
  • Schedules and penalties. Every loan gets a repayment schedule. Late instalments attract the penalty your group sets.
  • Top-ups, restructuring and write-offs. Change a loan with a full record of what changed and who approved it.
  • Repayments by M-PESA. Repayments are matched to the loan and the schedule updates itself.

Approve and pay out

Money leaves the group only when the people your group trusts have said yes.

  • Signatories you choose. Decide how many officials approve loans, withdrawals, welfare payouts and expenses.
  • No approving your own money. The person receiving a payout can never approve it, whatever their role.
  • A code for every approval. Officials confirm each approval with a code from their authenticator app, so a stolen password is not enough.
  • M-PESA payouts. Approved payouts can be sent by M-PESA from your own shortcode, or recorded when paid by bank or cash. Unclear results are never sent twice.
  • Savings withdrawals. Members ask to withdraw savings in the app; officials approve within your rules.

Keep the books

Proper accounts without an accountant on the committee.

  • Double-entry ledger. Every shilling is recorded twice, so the books always balance. Entries are never edited or deleted.
  • Member statements. Each member sees contributions, loans, fines, dividends and payouts on one statement, ready to print.
  • Financial statements. Trial balance, income statement and balance sheet for any period, for your AGM and your auditor.
  • Reconciliation. Match M-PESA and bank records against the book, and clear payments that arrived without the right reference.
  • Analytics. Collections, arrears, loan book and growth over time, in charts the whole committee can read.
  • Exports. Download members, contributions and reports as spreadsheets for Excel, and print statements or save them as PDF.
  • Audit trail. Who recorded, approved or changed what, and when, from which device. Your auditor can read all of it.

Run the group

The rest of what a committee does, in the same book as the money.

  • Merry-go-round. Set the order, see whose turn it is and who has paid into this round, and pay out the pot with approvals.
  • Welfare claims. Members claim for bereavement, hospital, a wedding or a new baby, with supporting documents. Officials review and pay out.
  • Meetings. Schedule meetings, take attendance and apologies, record minutes and decisions.
  • Polls and elections. Ask the group a question or elect officials. Each member votes once and results are counted for you.
  • Fines. Charge fines for lateness or missed meetings, and waive them with a recorded reason.
  • Investments. A register of land, shares, T-bills and other investments, with purchase costs, valuations and income.
  • Dividends. Declare a dividend from the period's surplus. It is shared by each member's savings, shares or both (closing or average balance), approved, and credited to their account.
  • Announcements. Send a message to every member, or only the ones who need it, by SMS, email and in the app.

Members and roles

The right people see the right things.

  • Add or import members. Add members one at a time or import them from a spreadsheet. Each gets an invitation to set a password.
  • Roles you define. Start with chairperson, treasurer, secretary, auditor and member, then adjust or add roles with exactly the permissions you want.
  • Identity checks (KYC). Collect ID details and photos with consent, review them, and keep them encrypted as the Data Protection Act requires.
  • Transparency settings. Choose whether members see each other's names in the group's books or only their own records.
  • English and Kiswahili. Each member chooses their language, and light or dark display.
  • Installs like an app. Add ChamaBook to the home screen of any Android phone or iPhone. No app store needed.

Messages

Members hear about their money without asking.

  • Receipts and reminders. Receipts, due-date reminders, loan and payout updates by SMS, email and in the app.
  • Your own wording. Edit the wording of every message your members receive, in the language your group uses.
  • Your own sender name. Connect your group's own SMS account or email server if you have one; ChamaBook's are used otherwise.
  • Delivery reports. See which messages were delivered and which failed, and why.

Security

Protection that fits the money it guards.

  • Two-step sign-in. Officials use an authenticator app; members can too, or receive codes by SMS or email.
  • Locked, sealed ledger. Entries are sealed to each other and the chain is checked every night.
  • Encrypted personal data. ID numbers, dates of birth, KRA PINs and documents are encrypted, and every view is logged.
  • Trusted devices and alerts. A phone can be trusted for 30 days. Members are told straight away when their password or two-step sign-in changes.