A Chama is an informal cooperative society that is normally used to pool and invest savings by people in East Africa, and particularly Kenya. The chama phenomenon is also referred to as "micro-savings groups". "Chama" (also spelled Kyama by certain tribes) is the Kiswahili word for "group" or "body". The chama phenomenon arose out of the idea of harambee, which means "all together", in the late 1980s and 1990s. Originally, chamas tended to be exclusively women's groups, but as chamas started to grow in sophistication and success, men started participating in chamas as well. The chama structure is used throughout Africa, but is particularly popular in Kenya where the word originated. In Kenya there are estimated to be 300,000 chamas managing a total of KSH 300 billion (USD $3.4 billion) in assets. Chamas are known for their exclusivity. In order to join new members are typically subjected to extensive interviews and must have assurances or guarantees made for them by an existing member. Some sources have estimated that one in three Kenyans are chama members.
Chama is a small town in the Muchinga Province of Zambia, and is headquarters of Chama District. It is one of the most remote district headquarters in the country, lying just inside the eastern edge of the upper Luangwa Rift Valley, at the foot of the highlands dividing Zambia and Malawi. It is served by only one gravel road which comes from Lundazi and the provincial capital, Chipata, 300 km to the south. A dirt track connects the town to the South Luangwa National Park 200 km south-west, running parallel to the Luangwa River. There are no roads west from Chama across the Luangwa Valley, but a little-used dirt track follows the Malawi border further north and crosses into Isoka District west of the Nyika Plateau.
Chama (Chamá) is a small Late-Classic Maya highland site, situated in the Chixoy River valley of the Alta Verapaz department of Guatemala, some fifty kilometers north-west of San Pedro Carchah. Small-scale excavations were carried out in the early twentieth century by Robert J. Burkitt of the Pennsylvania University Museum. The site belongs to the periphery of the lowland Maya kingdoms. It has been argued that Chama was colonized from the lowlands somewhere at the beginning of the eighth century and then developed its characteristic, but short-lived Classical ceramic style.
Chamá-style cylindrical vases have black-and-white chevron motif bands painted around the rim and base, with a bright white, and strong red-and-black palette, applied to a distinctive yellow to yellow-orange background. Rather than with scenes of courtiers and warriors, they are often decorated with humanized animals, deities, and mythological scenes.
... needs—to chamas, informal cooperatives where members pool resources for savings and investments, these traditional systems present both competition and opportunity for formal insurance providers.
Remittance inflows to Africa have doubled over the past decade, surpassing foreign direct investment (FDI) and official development assistance (ODI) in Africa combined, according to UN and World Bank reports ...Alternative forms of investment.
First, they save and invest money together. This is often done in small scale, informal rotating savings and investment associations ... Saving money together enables owners to get a loan and enables business owners to make investments together.
In February, Storment and Smith applied for a license and “proceed to invest tens of thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours to prepare its Chama location for an indoor cannabis production facility.”.
... a savings account option as well as offer loans to not only individuals and businesses but to also SACCOs and CHAMAs (a CHAMA is an informal cooperative society that saves and invests money).
