Chilimba and Village Banking in Zambia

Learn more on what Ichilimba or Chilimba business is in Zambia and how it works in Zambia. Also learn Chilimba savings, One chilimba, Village banking in Zambia, What is Chilimba?, MTN village banking, MTN Chilimba, list of village banking platforms in Zambia and village banking rules in Zambia.

What is Chilimba?

Chilimba is a club, group or community of 2 or more people where each member contributes a fixed daily, weekly or monthly sum of money. The word Chilimba is used in Zambia to describe community savings and investments.

How does the Chilimba work in Zambia?

This is a scheme where two or more people create a money pool where they have to put in money either daily, weekly or monthly and set dates or intervals to pay each other and new members join after a complete cycle.

Chilimba savings example

Here is an example to understand better. Let’s say we want to make our own Chilimba the four of us. We can agree that we will be depositing money in one account of K10 daily and we will be paying ourselves weekly according to the list. For example, the first person can get paid on the 7th day, second on 14th, third on 21st, fourth on 28th. So, in this case, one will be getting paid a K70. When everyone is paid, you continue depositing or saving money.

Advantages of Chilimba

• It is a nice way of saving money in Zambia
• If you are struggling with saving money or you cannot save money, this can help you.
• It can help you raise capital fo other businesses

Disadvantages of Chilimba

• It becomes a problem when one member decides to leave or dies.
• It can bring disagreements when one fails to contribute or missed a day when it is time for that person to get paid.
• When you join a Chilimba with people you do not know or trust, you may end up being scammed or never get paid at all.

There are a lot of advantages and disadvantages of this business type. Let me know yours in the comments below.

How to start or join the Chilimba savings

how to start Chilimba

• Look for like minded people or relatives or friends
• Introduce the idea and write up something like how it will work, rules and everything else.
• You should all agree on what you have discussed to prevent future problems and you can as well all sign something.
• Open a joint account or choose one person to handle the cash who is trustable and whom you know very well.

How to join the Chilimba business in Zambia?

• Avoid online Chilimba platforms that operate on Facebook or WhatsAppp of which it’s admins are not known and trusted.
• Make sure you ask all questions you have and understand how it works before joining to avoid confusions later on.
• It is better to join a Chilimba business from those you know like family members, relatives or close friends.

There are a lot of ways to join or start a Chilimba, let me know your opinions below.

One chilimba

One chilimba was an Online chilimba platform of which it is not accessible as at now. I am not sure if it is still operational or not.

Village banking in Zambia

Village Banking in Zambia is different from Chilimba. But other platforms mix these two where they also give each other loans. Village banking platforms in Zambia are groups of low-income entrepreneurs who come together to share and guarantee one another’s loan in Zambia.

Zed Chilimba or Global Dream Network

This was a illegal pyramid scheme that operated in several countries in Africa that was banned in other countries and Bank of Zambia in 2019 in September, warned evrything about it. BoZ’s review of the business model of Global Dream Network or Zed Chilimba has revealed that the company is in effect engaging in a ‘money circulation scheme,’ which is prohibited under Section 157 of the BFSA,” reviewed BoZ in a statement.

The Central Bank added that, the same WhatsApp administrators are enticing would be participants to invest a minimum of K350 and get a return of K100 cash after recruiting two people at the first level.

It also revealed that the scheme promises up to K32, 000 in returns at level four.

BoZ has also warned that anyone who participates in the scheme is liable for criminal sanctions.

“The Bank of Zambia wishes to also warn members of the public that, according to Section 157 of the BFSA, it is illegal to conduct, participate and issue notice or other documents inviting members of the public to subscribe to a money circulation scheme. Participants and promoters are both liable to criminal sanctions upon conviction,” BoZ stated.

It advised members of the public to desist from getting involved and to further be alert to investments that promise huge returns without underlying economic activity.

MTN village banking

Do you know anything about this? let me know in the comments.

MTN Chilimba

Do you know anything about this? let me know in the comments.

Village banking rules in Zambia.

Rules or laws of Section 157 of the BFSA, applies here.

List of village banking platforms in Zambia

• Anakazibanking

This is the only village banking platform I found out during my research. Let me know yours in the comments.

Conclusion

I hope this post helped you. If you have questions or anything to add, feel free to comment and share too. Also consider subscribing to my free email list