1. WHAT IS A ROSCA?
“Rotating Savings and Credit Association (ROSCAs), are Informal financial cooperatives where a group of individuals agree to cooperate and contribute a set amount funds at regular intervals, for a defined period in order to save, borrow, invest together. It is a form of combined peer-peer banking & lending with indigenous African roots. ROSCAs are called different names in different cultures – e.g. Esusu, Ajo, Adashe, Susu, Padner, Box hand, Committee, Hagbad, Ayuuto, Chit fund, Chama, Menage, Hui, Gameeya, Gameeya, Mukando…”
2. HOW DOES THE WWN DIGITAL/AUTOMATED ROSCA DIFFER FROM TRADITIONAL ROSCA (Ajo/Esusu/Chama/Susu/Padner etc.)?
i. Convenience – The withdrawals are automatically debited from the accounts of participants, eliminating the need for cash transfers or multiple e-transfers/associated fees.
ii. Efficiency – Administrators can run multiple communities/groups with 10s, 100s or 1000s of people due to the automated nature of the processes.
ii. Security – Woveo is CDIC insured, formally registered and eliminates the scrutiny/barriers from financial institutions for large contributions.
Security – Woveo is a registered Money Service Business, with oversight from FINTRAC to ensure compliance with fraud and anti-money laundering laws. Woveo also works with a Canadian bank to secure deposits and to provide CDIC insurance and eliminate the scrutiny/barriers from financial institutions for large contributions.
iv. Risk Mitigation – Our Digital ROSCA by Woveo offers “DEFAULT PROTECTION”, i.e., we eliminate the risk of participants not getting their contribution due to a payment default by any other participant. Basically, as a participant in our digital ROSCAs through Woveo platform, you are guaranteed to get your pooled funds when they are due. We do all the backend follow up with defaulters, this includes financial literacy training, flexible options to retrieve funds from them in instalments, or a recourse to reporting their non payment to equifax, collection agencies and using legal means, only when necessary.
v. Record Keeping – Identity of participants are verified and groups can generate reports to track payments, amounts transacted, create internal social capital profiles of members for Peer-to-Peer (P2P) or Emergency funding.
vi. Through Woveo’s partnership with Equifax, our digital ROSCAs can help you build your credit history through saving. (Conversely, for repeat defaulters/absconders, non payments will be reported as derogatory or a collection item on their credit, and/or legal recourse taken by Woveo and/or WWN). Note that these are measures of last resort after all attempts have made to engage the defaulter. Priority is on helping participants build positive credit history, healthy saving habits, and excellent social capital to enhance their socio-economic well-being.
3. HOW ARE SLOTS SELECTED/PICKED FOR WHO WILL RECEIVE THE CONTRIBUTIONS IN EACH CYCLE?
There are several ways to choose who will collect the pooled contributions in each cycle:
i. By Discretion – The administrator of each group/community shares a form and asks members based on their preferences for a position;
ii. First Signed Up, First Served – In the order of which the members signed up to the group and accepted the invitation, or simply by reaching out to them;
ii. By Democracy – A simple democratic approach using a digital number generator app e.g https://pickerwheel.com/tools/random-number-generator.
4. WHAT IS THE STRUCTURE PUT IN PLACE FOR DEFAULTERS?
Unlike a traditional ROSCA, our digital ROSCA has the following:
i. Members of each WWN ROSCA saving circle are assured to receive their funds when it is their turn. Woveo, WWN and the Administrators of each community/group work in the background to retrieve funds from any defaulter and this does not affect the group payout. Defaulters are only escalated to collections when necessary (after several attempts have been made to retrive contributions. Note that Woveo focuses on reporting payment history to Equifax to help participants build their credit history. Defaulters are only reported after 30 days of non-payment and if they break community trust, are uncooperative in making payment arrangement and thus fail to respect the guiding principles of the community).
ii. Members are vetted on two levels – by the administrators of their distinct community groups, and digitally, by Woveo through a verification process during registration (which involves identity, phone and address verification. This verification process does not involve any credit check or any hard hit to your credit score).
iII. At the discretion of the community or group, repeat defaulters (has defaulted more than twice), may be subject to a penalty fee, which is payable to the WWN group wallet as reserve funds.
5. HOW DO WE ENSURE THE ROSCA PROGRAM IS ROCK SOLID?
i. The shared values of each group (trust, reciprocity, respect, mutuality, sense of community, dignity etc.), and the adherence to these values by all members, are some of the key ingredients for success.
ii. All members of WWN Digital ROSCAs participate in a series of mandatory, introductory, complimentary, values-based financial literacy and leadership training program, facilitated by WWN, within the first 6 months of joining a ROSCA group. (This is delivered online, in-person or via a hybrid model, depending on individual preferences and accessibility).
iii. Woveo is a CDIC-insured Fintech platform and is committed to supporting grassroots organizations to build individual and community wealth. The teams at WWN and Woveo are responsive and provide learning resources and support to saving groups.
6. HOW DO WE RETRIEVE OUR MONEY FROM THE WALLET TO OUR BANK ACCOUNTS?
i. By simply clicking on the “CASHOUT” Button in your Wallet, and entering the AMOUNT that you want to retrieve, and selecting the BANK ACCOUNT you want to deposit the funds to, and clicking “SUBMIT.”
ii. Note that if you want the funds to be deposited into the same bank account that your contributions are taken from, simply select the DEFAULT BANK ACCOUNT already in your wallet.
iii. Your funds will be deposited in your bank account within 1 to 3 hours.
(Plans are underway to make the transaction happen in a few minutes).
7. HOW DO MEMBERS OF A ROSCA GROUP SWITCH POSITIONS ON THE SCHEDULE IF NEEDED?
i. The positions of the members can be switched as many times as possible in the draft mode (BEFORE the group’s schedule is published LIVE). This is done by the administrator(s) of the group by a simple toggle click, as long as the members concerned agree to the switch.
ii. Once the group is setup and published LIVE, the order cannot be switched. However, members of a group can make their internal arrangements offline to switch their respective order/positions when they receive the pooled contribution. This means that one party receives the funds in their wallet, they are responsible for transferring it, either directly to the wallet of the other party, or to their own bank account and then transferring it to the bank account of the other party.
iii. Neither Woveo nor WWN is accountable or responsible for such private arrangements made between members outside the Woveo platform.
8a. WHAT ARE THE MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM AMOUNTS?
The minimum contribution amount is $25 and the maximum amount is $1,000 (This may be weekly, bi-weekly or monthly).
(There are plans to increase the maximum amount based on the needs of the communities/groups especially for business owners or organizations focused on large scale community development projects. Contact WWN and/Woveo directly if you have such requirements).
8b. ARE THERE DIFFERENT GROUPS BASED ON CAPACITY OF PARTICIPANTS, OR IS IT A FIXED AMOUNT?
ii. Yes. There are multiple groups based on the capacity of the participants/members of each group. Each group chooses the set amount and the intervals e.g Weekly, Bi-weekly or Monthly.
9a. HOW LONG IS EACH CYCLE?
The cycles can be as long as the group chooses. However, we recommend that cycles are not longer than one year, and not shorter than 5 months. Contributions can be done on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly basis.
9b. IS THERE AUTO RENEWAL FROM ONE CYCLE TO ANOTHER
No. There are no auto renewals. You can opt out after one cycle.
If a particular group wants to run another cycle, the administrator of the group simply needs to select the frequency and amount, and arrange the group members based on their selected/agreed upon schedules. Then each group member will accept the invitation to join the group with a click of a button.
10. ANY PENALTY FOR OPTING OUT WHILE A CYCLE IS ON?
You can opt out from participating in another cycle, only AFTER a current cycle you are already in is completed. You cannot opt out of a cycle while the cycle is still ongoing, especially if you have already collected a pooled contribution. If you opt out arbitrarily, you may be subject to collections and/or legal actions.
However, we also understand that sometimes circumstances happen in life that are beyond one’s control, such as severe illness, job losses, death. In such rare cases, speak with your group administrator(s) on how to return any funds you already collected, and/or how to complete the remaining contribution cycle.
11. OTHER THAN THE REGULAR SAVING CONTRIBUTIONS & ROTATING WITHDRAWALS OF POOLED FUNDS, IS THERE A CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS INVESTMENTS/RETURNS ON THIS?
Yes. After members have successfully participated in at least one regular ROSCA saving contributions program, they are eligible to be onboarded to participate in different investment-based ROSCA programs by Whole Woman Network (WWN), or by their own Group/Community.
For WWN members, some of our investment options include: Our community based Peer-to-Peer Funding Program, Direct Investment in vetted Businesses that offer members a Return on investment (ROI varies), Group Real Estate Investments, and other Community Development Initiatives. We also offer a repayable matching fund that is equal to the members’ ROSCA pooled withdrawal. E.g If you receive $1000 when it is your turn or “hand”, WWN would also offer a zero-interest matching fund of $1000 to be repaid between 6 months to 12 months (Terms and Conditions apply).
12. ARE WE DEPOSITING TO A FINANCIAL INSTITUTION OR TO AN INDIVIDUAL?
You are not depositing to any individual. Depending on the frequency your group selected, your weekly, bi-weekly or monthly contribution is directly debited from your bank account by Woveo.
When you setup your profile on the Woveo app, there are KYC steps that require you to verify your identity, your contact information, and then link your bank account to Woveo.
When it is your turn to withdraw, the funds are in your Woveo wallet and can be “cashed out” to your linked bank account with a click of a button. WWN Digital ROSCA eliminates the risk of any individual handling cash or email money transfers on behalf of the group.
13. CAN SOMEONE JOIN MULTIPLE CONTRIBUTION GROUPS?
Yes. Joining multiple contribution groups is allowed. As long as the person has the financial capacity to meet the contributions as they come due each period, they can participate in more than one group.
E.g. One person may be saving for multiple things/projects and may decide to join 3 different groups, each with a different contribution amount – $100, $500, $1000 etc.
It is recommended that you schedule all your contribution due dates and amounts on your calendar to keep track. Woveo will also send automated reminders ahead of the due dates to help members of each group stay on track.
14. IS PARTICIPATION IN OUR DIGITAL ROSCA LEGALLY BINDING AND ENFORCEABLE?
Yes. Participating in our Digital ROSCAs through Woveo App is legally binding and enforceable in Canada.
Whole Woman Network and Woveo are legally registered entities in Canada. Joining Woveo, creating your profile, agreeing/giving consent to join a ROSCA savings group, and completing the KYC process, all constitute a digital agreement that is legally binding.
Whole Woman Network also has an Agreement form that members sign. This can be customized by other groups/communities/organizations/associations for their own members. WWN is also able to develop and provide customized digital ROSCA solutions, Funding models, Cooperative Education and Financial Literacy/Liberation Coaching & Training solutions that are tailored to the needs of organizations, groups, associations, educational or faith-based institutions.
15. SINCE THE BANK WITHDRAWAL/DEBIT IS DONE AUTOMATICALLY, IF A PARTICIPANT’S ACCOUNT DECLINED A TRANSACTION, DOES WOVEO CHARGE AN NSF FEE?
Your bank will likely charge you an NSF fee. Wove does not charge you a fee. Rather, Wove will attempt to debit your bank account again in a few days (2 or 3 days). If on the second attempt the transaction is still declined, and/or if a participant has consistent declined transactions, it will negatively impact their social capital ranking within the community; the defaulting participant will be required to undergo mandatory financial literacy training sessions; and they may be subject to penalties imposed by their group E.g Penalty fee, suspension (or ban) from participating in subsequent ROSCA saving or investment cycles, scheduled in the last position to receive pooled funds in the current or subsequent cycle(s) etc. Also, refer to FAQs #2 and #4.
16. HOW SAFE IS IT TO LINK BANK ACCOUNTS TO WOVEO?
i. PRIVACY COMMITMENT
Woveo offers a safe and secure protection of your data and privacy. No sharing of personal information with unaffiliated third parties.
ii. DESIGNED WITH SECURITY IN MIND
Multi-factor Authentication for Data access.
iii. 256-bit Encryption for transmitting and receiving Data to ensure the security and protection of your information.
iv. Similar to banks and other financial institutions, Woveo Fintech is covered by CDIC and registered with FINTRAC – and aligns with industry best practice.
17. IS THERE A REFERRAL FEE OR AN AFFILIATE PROGRAM?
Yes. Woveo offers a referral fee for everyone you refer that joins the app, completes their profile, verifies their identity, and links their bank account.
To join the Whole Woman Network ROSCA circle, use this link:
18. IS THERE A CHARGE OR REGISTRATION FEE FOR THE ROSCA SERVICE PROVIDED BY WOVEO?
There are 2 membership plans on Woveo:
i. BASIC PLAN (FREE) & ii. *PLUS PLAN ($10/Month per user).
*PLUS PLAN offers all the benefits of Basic Plan, in addition to: Credit Building, Emergency Cash Advance, Default Protection
**Whole Woman Network is an Enterprise Client & Community Partner of Woveo, and so we provide the PLUS PLAN Benefits to our paid members (Individual and Enterprise members), at no cost. We sometimes extend all or some of these benefits to members of select organizations and community groups, depending on several factors/terms and conditions.
19. IS THERE A FEE FOR THE FINANCIAL LITERACY & RESILIENCE/LEADERSHIP TRAINING PROGRAM, PEER-TO-PEER FUNDING, & THE MATCHING ROSCA FUNDS, OFFERED BY WHOLE WOMAN NETWORK?
All the Introductory, virtual, values-based financial literacy/leadership training programs required for all participants of the Digital ROSCA are offered for FREE by Whole Woman Network.
There is an option to upgrade to any additional fee-based Intermediate or Advanced Financial Literacy/Liberation Coaching, Cooperative Education & Leadership Training.
Only paid members (Individual or Enterprise members) of WWN are eligible for Peer-to-Peer Funding, Matching ROSCA Funds, and some Investment opportunities, etc.
20. Is the Digital ROSCA+ available to only Women?
The WWN Digital ROSCA+ is available to everyone – Women, Men, Youth…Interested in joining a ROSCA+ Savings Group? Click here: https://bit.ly/digitalROSCA
To learn more about Woveo Community Wallet, visit woveo.com
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