The Jaksally Development organisation is a non-governmental organisation that focuses in creating wealth through the Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLAs) methodology. The VSLA methodology has shown that poor people, especially poor women, are good at financial management. They invest wisely, not only in income-generating activities but also in the welfare of their families.
A Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) is a group of people who meet regularly to save together and take small loans from those savings. The activities of the group run in cycles of one year, after which the accumulated savings and the loan profits are distributed back to the members. The purpose of a VSLA is to provide simple savings and loan facilities in a community that does not have easy access to formal financial services.A VSLA is a transparent, democratic and structured version of the informal Savings Groups found in many parts of the developing world. The VSL methodology emphasises accountable governance, standard procedures and simple accounting that everyone can understand and trust.
Jaksally after sensitizing the Fufulso community about wealth creation and the establishment individual and group businesses, formed a group known as “Kpaal-akoso” meaning if you ever depend on someone you cannot make any positive gains. The group is a mixed one comprising ten men and twenty-four women making a total of thirty-four members in all. As a first-time savings group, they formally started savings in March 2023. Every Friday in a week was set aside a day for savings. The system adopted here seems simple but produced powerful results. Members saved in varied amount depending on each one’s capabilities but had minimum and maximum limits. The minimum share value was 5GHS and the maximum share value of GHȻ 40.00. The least shares purchased per member was 70 Shares at 5GHS and maximum share of 260 at 40GHS. These shares translated into 930GHS (69.64$) and 15,797GHS (1,148.87$). The savings is a fifty-two (52) weeks cycle before the group will have a final share out. As a first-cycle group, it was expected that the group could only make the minimum interest rate of not more than 30% however, the group exceeded this record and made a profit margin of 59.1% in the first cycle,
The total number of shares purchased was Seven Thousand and Sixty-Five shares (7,065). This translate into actual savings recorded were Seventy Thousand, Six Hundred and Fifty-Two Ghana Cedis (GHȻ 70, 652.00), {5,138.32$}. The group at its final share out on May 10, 2024, made a total income of One Hundred and Seven Thousand, Three Hundred and Nineteen Ghana Cedis (107, 319.00) , (7,805.02$), thereby making a profit of (GHȻ 36,667.00), (2,666.69)
This an incredible profit made among 34 members within one year cycle. This is partly attributed to the varied purchases of share values and the associated increase with savings and the fact that members can borrow in small amounts, up to three times the value of their savings and have a maximum period of three months and may be repaid in flexible instalments at a monthly service charge determined by the group. This flexible repayment system is a decisive advantage when compared to the rigid repayment demands of micro-finance institutions.
Jaksally as its commitment to providing wealth creation and environmentally friendly programmes through partnerships, collaboration, positive people, groups, and community mobilisation it has a strong positive capacity-building culture to meet its ultimate objectives. Through the constant support provided by Jaksally “Kpaal-akoso” group has proven the initiators of VSLAs wrong. Kudos to Kpaal-akoso” group. Asng ne kusung.