About Chilimba

Why we built this

Chilimba (village savings and loan groups) are one of the most widely used financial tools for ordinary households in Malawi and across the region. Members contribute regularly, take turns receiving the pooled fund, and sometimes borrow from it with interest. It works — but it usually runs on a notebook, a treasurer's memory, and trust alone. When a notebook is lost, a treasurer changes, or two people remember a payment differently, there's no record to settle it.

What we changed, and what we didn't

Chilimba doesn't change how your group actually runs. Members still contribute the way they always have, in person, in cash. The treasurer simply logs it in the app instead of a notebook — nothing about how your group operates has to change for Chilimba to help.

What changes is that every member can now open the app and see the exact same ledger the treasurer sees: every contribution, every loan, every payout. No more disputes about who paid what, because there's nothing to dispute — it's all right there.

A deliberate choice: we never touch your money

Chilimba never collects or holds your group's contributions, loan repayments, or payouts. Your group's money stays exactly where it's always been — in the treasurer's hands, counted in person, the way trust in a chilimba group has always worked.

How Chilimba is free for rotating groups

A classic rotating chilimba — where members take turns receiving the pooled fund — is free on Chilimba, always, including full reports and record-keeping. We keep it free by showing a few small ads in the app for these groups; the ads never touch your money or your group's ledger, and they never appear for groups that issue loans (see below).

Share-based groups: the paid tier

Groups that pool members' share capital and issue loans with interest are a different, more involved kind of group to run — tracking a loan fund, interest earned, and profit distributions takes more of our own infrastructure to support well. These groups are Chilimba's paid tier: a subscription unlocks issuing loans and downloadable reports. There are no ads on these groups either way.

Where we're headed

We're starting with the core of what every chilimba group needs — contributions, rotation tracking, loans, and full transparency — and building outward from there, guided by what treasurers and members actually tell us they need next.