Microfinance and SaaS SACCO platforms for an ICT services company in Tanzania

The client

Our client is an established ICT services company in Tanzania, working in software development, systems integration and electronic payments. It also runs its own microfinance lending business.

That combination created two needs. The lending business needed a dependable system to run on. And the company wanted to offer SACCOs and microfinance institutions modern core banking as a hosted service, so that each one would not have to buy, install and maintain a system of its own.

What we delivered

For the client’s own lending. We delivered a microfinance management solution for the client’s lending business, giving it a dedicated system for its borrowers and loans.

A SaaS SACCO and microfinance platform. Rather than installing a separate system for every institution, the client can offer SACCOs and MFIs a hosted core banking platform. The client runs one platform instead of many, and each institution avoids buying and running its own.

One core system for every interaction. Our SACCO and MFI management system brings member and staff interactions into a single core banking system. That is what makes the rest possible: when every transaction lands in one place, management gets real-time information, and reporting for the board and the regulator no longer means reconciling several systems.

Related work: payment interoperability with Mojaloop

Separately from this engagement, and not for this client, we worked in Tanzania with Mojaloop, the open-source reference model for interoperable digital payments. The goal was to onboard microfinances and create a unified payment gateway between microfinances, banks and mobile money operators.

Without interoperability, every lender has to build and maintain its own link to every bank and mobile money provider. That is expensive for a small institution, and it is one reason digital financial services spread slowly beyond the big players. A shared, interoperable gateway lets a microfinance connect once.

Why it matters for SACCOs and MFIs in Kenya

The problems are the same on both sides of the border. Members expect speed, convenience and trust. Internal pressure to cut costs is constant. And a core system that cannot connect to mobile money, mobile banking or agents becomes a liability.

This work is the foundation our AI automation sits on. Because we have built core banking and payment systems, we can connect AI agents to them safely: a WhatsApp agent that answers member questions from the core system, or an automated workflow that matches mobile money and bank receipts to member accounts and loans. We know what a posting looks like when it goes wrong, and we design for it.