Susu / ROSCA circles
Rotating savings groups go by many names — susu, chama, tontine, merry-go- round, ROSCA. Members contribute regularly, and each round one member receives the pot.
They run on trust, and they fail on record-keeping. The Circles module keeps the record straight.
Switch it on in Settings → Modules.
Setting up a group
A group holds its members, the contribution amount, how often rounds happen, and the payout order.
Group rules, bylaws or notes records what everyone agreed: what happens if someone misses a contribution, how the order was decided, what happens if a member leaves mid-cycle. Writing this down at the start is what prevents the argument later — nobody disputes rules they agreed to before knowing whether they would benefit.
Each member record can carry notes.
Running rounds
Each round has an expected date, a payout recipient, and contributions from members.
Record contributions as they come in. Total collected shows the pot against what is expected, so a shortfall is visible before the payout rather than at the moment someone is expecting their money.
The round recipient receives the pot. Then the next round begins.
Pausing
Pause this group stops the cycle without dissolving it — for a season, a crisis, or a gap while members sort themselves out. Resume picks it up where it left off.
Why the record matters
Rotating savings work on the promise that everyone who pays in early gets their turn later. The person who receives in round one has taken an interest-free loan from everyone else; the person in the final round has been lending all year.
That only holds if the record is unambiguous. Groups collapse when nobody can say for certain who has paid what — and once trust goes, the money that was already contributed is what gets lost.
Practical advice
- Record contributions the day they are made, not from memory later
- Agree the payout order at the start and write it in the group rules
- Do not skip a member's turn without a recorded agreement
- Keep group money in its own money location if it passes through the business — group money is not business money, and mixing them makes both untrustworthy