Status Update – April 12, 2023

It’s been a year since the last update, and Tujijenge has paid in full the loan balance of $380,120.57, as agreed in the repayment agreement. Kiva is now working with Tujijenge to explore the possibility of reactivating fundraising for new loans. 

Status Update – April 12, 2022

Since the last update, and by mutual agreement, Kiva and Tujijenge Tanzania have agreed to convert the current loan balance of $380,120.57 into a term loan repayable within 10 months that started end of March 2022 with monthly installments of between $35k to $40k. Tujijenge continues to be very responsive, cooperative, and transparent with Kiva and we’ll continue to post updates to this page as we continue receiving these payments.

Status Update – October 29, 2021

Tujijenge has recently been acquired by a reputable new international shareholder, which is a positive development after a long period of intense challenges. While this is good news, a number of challenges remain as Tujijenge works to stabilize their operations and rebuild their institution's financial health. During this process, the organization is taking steps to evaluate their ability to repay their lenders including Kiva. Tujijenge has been cooperative and transparent with Kiva throughout this period of difficulty and is committed to working together to consider possible payment plan options.

Status Update – March 25, 2021

Tujijenge has not made any payment due to Kiva lenders since February 2020. By the time Covid-19 came, Tujijenge was already struggling in making loan repayments to Kiva as per the renegotiated loan agreement, while Covid-19 further exacerbated their challenges. However, Tujijenge is in the process of getting relevant government approvals for a reputable International shareholder who will be injecting new capital by purchasing 95% of the organization’s current shareholding. Tujijenge should resume their loan repayments as soon as they get the new investment approved by the regulator.



Status Update – January 31, 2020

Tujijenge has not made its December monthly payment due to Kiva lenders, and is in violation of its agreement with Kiva. Our team is in contact with the organization and will continue to follow up to try to collect the scheduled payments. We expect to continue to receive payments from Tujijenge, however we do expect delays to continue.

Status update — December 10, 2019

Kiva has paused Tujijenge’s ability to fundraise new loans on the Kiva platform. The organization has been experiencing major liquidity challenges due to the difficult macroeconomic issues facing Tanzania. We have agreed with Tujijenge to repay their outstanding balance over a longer period of time and are working closely with them to collect funds owed. We will share more information as it becomes available.

Status update — June 25, 2019

Tujijenge Tanzania Microfinance has been experiencing liquidity issues related to difficult economic conditions in the region. This has affected their ability to send repayments to Kiva lenders. To help them get back on track, we have agreed on a new repayment plan over a longer period of time that will aim to recover their full outstanding balance. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Kiva conducts regular, ongoing monitoring of all Lending Partners, but only posts status updates here in response to relevant, major changes at the partner.

Tujijenge Tanzania is a micro-finance company limited by shares based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It started its operations in July 2006. Tujijenge Tanzania aims at providing micro-financial services including credit, savings, life and medical insurance. In the first three years of operation Tujijenge Tanzania will concentrate in Dar-es-Salaam area, however, the organization intends to expand its operations to other parts of the country as well as in the rural areas.

Tujijenge Tanzania customers are both men and women who are actively engaged in small businesses such as cooked food, second-hand clothing, cereals, charcoal and other petty trade activities. Other businesses include shops, stationery, kiosks, trans-border businesses and hair salons. These micro entrepreneurs operate in the markets, at business centres and some of them conduct the businesses at home. Tujijenge Tanzania Loan Officers, who are currently thirteen (13) in number, would normally go out to the community and talk about Tujijenge Tanzania’s methodology and the intention of giving out loans. Interested business people will form groups of 15-35 members and thereafter they will receive training from the Loan Officer for a period of four (4) weeks. During the training period the potential members will be exposed to the company’s lending methodology, basic topics on loan use and business plan. Furthermore the groups will choose a name for the group, elect leaders, formulate group by-laws, and open a bank account with a commercial bank.

Another requirement before a group can receive loans from Tujijenge is the ability to save; members are required to save 20% of the expected amount of loan during the training sessions. The rationale behind this is to build a discipline of making weekly repayments including saving right from the beginning. Furthermore, if a member can save before receiving a loan this depicts that a person is engaged in a serious business which can generate some amount of money to put aside as savings. In addition, after receiving a loan, members continue to save at least 1000 shillings every week they meet for repayment.

After four weeks of training, the group is ready to receive a loan from Tujijenge. The Loan Officer will forward application forms to the office which includes signatures of all members in the group as a request for a loan. The group will meet every week to make repayments at a designated venue in the communities. During these meetings members are encouraged to exchange ideas on business issues and life in general.

Tujijenge Tanzania desires to reach out to micro entrepreneurs and provide them with financial and social intermediation services since capital is one of the major barriers to development and success for micro-enterprises initiatives in Tanzania. Due to the small sizes of the businesses, and the lack of resources available to micro enterprises, micro entrepreneurs need micro-financial services in order to survive and grow their businesses. However, due to insufficient mechanisms and inadequate information in Tanzania on credit markets, commercial banks are discouraged from and are unwilling to lend to micro-enterprises.

A Note on Tujijienge’s Portfolio Yield:

We care deeply about the cost that Kiva borrowers pay for their loans, which is why fair pricing is a core part of our initial due diligence process for Lending Partners. With Kiva's 0% capital, many of our Lending Partners are also able to add additional value to their loans by reducing interest rates, offering non-financial services or creating new loan products.

For partners with reported portfolio yields or average APRs higher than 50%, Kiva takes steps to check that the high rates are justified by the impact of the loans. Kiva also verifies that the partner is not generating unreasonable profits or paying inflated salaries, and that the partner’s elevated operating costs are justified by its operating environment and/or the design of its loan products.

We seek to support loans that don’t impose an unjustifiable cost burden on hard-working borrowers. We nevertheless recognize that in order to reach vulnerable and excluded people with high-impact products and services, some of our partners incur high costs that necessitate charging higher-than-average costs to borrowers in order to allow for sustainability and scale.

Factors that drive up the costs that this partner organization charges its borrowers include:

• They provide very small loans. This leads to higher operating costs, since providing each individual loan presents a minimum per-unit cost.
• They provide very short term loans, which leads to higher operating costs, since each short-term loan generates a smaller amount of revenue than a longer-term loan.
• They operate in an area with a limited or poorly functioning banking system. This makes it difficult to access funding locally, and makes it more challenging to send and receive payments on loans from outside the country.