Ajo / Chama / Tontine Calculator

Ajo (Nigeria), Chama (Kenya), Tontine (West/Central Africa), and Stokvel (South Africa) are traditional rotating savings groups where members contribute a fixed amount regularly and each member takes turns receiving the full pool. It is a time-tested community savings method used across Africa.

Each round, all members contribute a fixed amount. The total pool goes to one member. The order rotates until every member has received the pool once, completing one full cycle. Members can agree on the order or draw lots.

Groups often set late payment penalties, typically a percentage of the contribution amount. This calculator lets you configure penalty rates to help enforce timely payments. The penalty amount is shown in the group summary.

Yes. Edit the member names in the setup section to reflect the agreed rotation order. The schedule is generated based on the order of the member list from top to bottom.

Your data stays in your browser only. Nothing is sent to any server. You can print or share the schedule via WhatsApp for your records.

These are all names for the same concept — a rotating savings and credit association (ROSCA) — adapted by different African cultures. Ajo is the Yoruba term used in Nigeria. Esusu is used among Igbo communities. Chama is the Swahili term widely used in Kenya and East Africa. Stokvel is the South African term, often with a more structured constitution and formal rules. Tontine is the French term used in West and Central African countries. The core mechanism is the same: all members pool their money each round, and one member receives the full pot.

In some Chamas, members who receive the pool earlier in the cycle pay a small interest into a group fund as compensation for receiving money earlier. The interest accumulates and is paid out to later recipients or kept as a group reserve. This calculator adds the interest as a bonus on top of the standard pool amount. If you set 5% interest on a NGN 50,000 pool, recipients receive NGN 52,500. The group should agree on who funds this interest — typically it comes from a small extra contribution each round.

Yes. Use the "Number of Cycles" field to generate a multi-cycle schedule. In lottery mode, each new cycle generates a fresh random order so every member has a different position in the next cycle. In sequential mode, the same order repeats. You can also add a gap between cycles (e.g. one round off for celebration or stock-taking).

This is a common concern. The person who receives last has effectively given an interest-free loan to earlier recipients. To address this, many groups either use lottery mode (so no one can game the order) or use the interest rate feature to compensate later recipients with a slightly larger pool. Some Chamas also allow members to bid or negotiate their position in the rotation, with earlier slots requiring higher contributions. Transparency and trust among members is the foundation of a healthy ROSCA.