EazzyChama: The Digital Chama Experience

There comes an age in a woman’s life when she decides to join a chamaa. The chamaa is a wonder of nature. Our mothers and grandmothers built homes, educated us and fed us through chamaas. I remember the Sundays the women would meet at our house and my mom would have us all leave church early to make the house spotless and cook and serve the ladies. It was always a good time as the women happily chatted and we stuffed ourselves silly. It was one of the annual occasions we looked forward to kind of like Christmas.  As I got to my 20s, my mother started to ‘subtly’ encourage me to join her chamaa. I of course was not keen on it as I couldn’t imagine sitting with my mom and her friends. Fastforward to 2016 and I am in a chamaa, not my mother’s but a chamaa nevertheless.

The chamaa I’m in has both men and women and is focused on group investments. I’m still thinking I’ll probably join a merry-go-round women only chamaa at some point as well. Being consistent with payments and having a clear direction on investments are some of the things that contribute towards the success of a chamaa. The process of setting up a chamaa especially if you want to invest, requires setting up of a legal entity and opening of a bank account. In the chamaa I’m in, setting up was a bit hectic and it took a while to get used to the checks and balances processes that come along with being part of a group investment. Banking has been one of the more tedious of the processes as the signatories must plan around one another’s schedules to get things done, which proves difficult at times.

Equity Bank has launched Eazzy Banking, a range of digital products that reduce the hassle in banking by fitting banking into the lifestyle of customers. The products were launched after a survey showed that customers want more control, flexibility and convenience in their banking experience. One of the products is EazzyChama that caters to chamaas, investment clubs and groups. EazzyChama is a great example of a bank that listens to their customers as account holders can now manage their group activities like record keeping and banking transactions, while maintaining transparency and accessibility among all group members. One of the things I really like is that you can now use your Equitel line to approve group account transactions using your PIN. Even better, multiple approvals allow signatories to transact wherever they are eliminating the need to physically meet to sign a cheque or to authorize transactions.