Investment Groups have become common place in Kenya and most parts of East Africa where they are commonly known as chama, in plural, chamas.
Simply put, these chamas are a group of like minded individuals – usually 5 or more – who come together with the chief objective of pulling their funds together in a bid to leverage the power of numbers.
One common theme that cuts across most Chamas is the need to make the members’ investments make a positive return for them.
Thus, whether your Chama / investment group is new or has been in existence for a while, you need a strategic plan or business plan in order to achieve your profit objectives.
The Chama has to be viewed like a business venture. Your Chama strategic business plan provides the road-map to realize the success members anticipate.
The question therefore isn’t whether a Chama needs a strategic plan / business plan, but how to write one that will help the group achieve its objectives.
Your Chama strategic/business plan is simply an answer to the following questions:
- Vision. Where do you want the Chama to go? Asked differently, what do you want to see in your Chama say 3, 5, or 10 years from today? What will be your Chama’s worth by then?
- Membership. How many members do you foresee it having by then? What will be their respective roles?
- Financial Plan:
- How will you finance your Chama’s investments?
- Will you need any external funding to build the Chama?
- What kind of investment activities will these funds be used for?
- What are your target revenues and profits over the next couple years?
- What additional property (e.g. land, vehicles, etc) do you need to achieve your objectives above?
- What will be the size of its investment porfolio? etc.
- Operations Plan:
- What is the Chama’s action plan to accomplish the above objectives?
- What are are its investment plans?
- What milestones must the Chama achieve to move it from where it is now to where you would like to see it at a designated time in the future?
- How will you accomplish them within the year?
- Industry Analysis.
- How big is the investment club market and how is it changing? In Kenya for instance, it is believed that there are 300,000+ Chamas holding around Kshs. 30 billion (US$3.4 billion ) in assets.
- How will your Chama compete effectively in the investment space with its peers?
Answering these questions helps you formulate specific Chama objectives.
They also help you carefully deliberate and agree on what makes your Chama uniquely qualified to succeed where many others have failed. And there could be many reasons. Such as:
- Quality of your Chama management and committees.
- Synergy and co-operation among Chama members.
- Unique skills possessed by the members.
- Sufficient funds to invest.
- Proper accounting and reporting of Chama activities.
So, if you’re considering right now how or whether to develop a strategic plan for your Chama, then schedule a meeting, and let the members deliberate on answers to the questions outlined above.
A Chama strategic plan is the most important real estate your Chama will ever posses.
Not one that sits on the shelf, but one developed by the members themselves and executed by them.
Additionally, if your Chama is planning to apply for external funding such as from Banks, the Uwezo Fund or any of the Women Enterprise Fund loans, a professionally written comprehensive business plan is a must have.
To convince any of these fund / loan providers to support your bid to build an investment for your Chama, the plan must clearly outline your perceived value proposition as well as your investment strategy!
Do you want to apply for Uwezo Fund or Women Enterprise Fund?
Are You Looking for an Experienced Business Plan Writer?
Photo by Eloise Ambursley on Unsplash
