How it works

Your treasurer sends you a link by SMS or WhatsApp. Tap it: it opens your own statement. It shows what you have paid, what you owe, and lets you pay. You don't need an app or a password. Keep it to yourself.

Open your link. If you see "Pay by M-Pesa", check the amount and your number, tap the button, and enter your M-Pesa PIN on your phone. The money goes straight to your group, and your statement updates by itself. If your group uses a Till or the treasurer's number, pay the usual way: the treasurer records it.

Payments by the button show within a minute. Payments to a Till or a phone show once the treasurer records them. If it still doesn't show, send your treasurer the M-Pesa message.

Your group agreed an amount every week or month. "Behind" is how much of that you haven't paid yet. "Up to date" means you have paid everything due so far.

If your group gives loans, open your link and tap "Apply for a loan". Choose the amount, the months, and the members who will guarantee you. They each get a message and say yes or no. Then the officials decide. A guarantor agrees that if the borrower doesn't repay, the group may take that amount from the guarantor's contributions.

Tap "Start your group". Give its name, how members pay (Paybill, Till, your M-Pesa number, or cash), and the regular contribution. Then paste your members' names and phone numbers, one per line. That's all.

Open "Members". Next to each name is a green WhatsApp button: tap it, and WhatsApp opens with a message and their link ready. Tap send. You'll see "opened their link" once they have.

1. On your phone, open Messages, then the M-PESA messages. 2. Press and hold a "received" message, tap Copy (or select several). 3. In SaccoLink, open "M-Pesa texts", press and hold the box, tap Paste. 4. Tap "Read the messages". 5. Check each payment has the right member, then tap "Record". The same message is never counted twice, so pasting again is safe.

Tap "Money in", choose the member, type the amount, and tap "Record it". Made a mistake? Tap "Undo" on the Overview: it stays in the records, marked undone.

Two days after each due date, members who are behind get an SMS and an email (if they have one), by themselves. You also get a list. To remind someone yourself, tap the WhatsApp button next to their name on the Overview.

Turn loans on in Settings and set your rules: interest, how long, how much a member can borrow, how many guarantors. Members apply from their link. On "Loans" you see each application, its guarantors, and anything outside your rules. Approve, send the money, then tap "Money sent". Repayments are recorded like any payment.

Open "Merry-go-round". Tap "Draw lots" for a fair order, or number the turns yourself, then share the schedule on WhatsApp. Each round shows who receives it and how much has come in. When you send them the money, tap "Money sent".

Open "Savings" and create a goal. "Each their own": everyone saves for their own item (utensils, a fridge, a phone); when someone has saved enough, buy it and tap "Bought for them". "Together": the group saves for land or equipment; when you buy, each member owns a share in line with what they put in.

Open "Year report": money in and out, the profit the group made, and each member's dividend in line with what they contributed. Print it for your AGM.

SaccoLink never holds your group's money. It goes straight from members' M-Pesa to your group's Paybill, Till or treasurer. SaccoLink only keeps the record.