A paperless service makes it easier to access loans

სამშაბათი, დეკემბერი 3, 2019
VisionFund loan officer collecting client data via tablet in Tanzania
სამშაბათი, დეკემბერი 3, 2019

Nicholaus Emmanuel Kitete (aged 46) is married to Jackline Nicolaus and has two children - Irene (4 yrs) and Grayson (2 yrs). He is a member of the ‘Waitera’ group in his village, taking agricultural loans. He is now on his second loan cycle.

Nicholaus lives in a village called Oleigeruno in Tanzania and is a farmer who cultivates onions. His wife keeps livestock and does a bit of tailoring work.

In his first circle he took a loan of about TZS 500,000. His second and current loan is for TZS 800,000.

“When I joined the group they were still filling in forms for loan applications, but later on the loan officer took our details using tablets. We were no longer given any papers to go home and fill and instead the loan officer come to our area, and he filled in all our details for us,” he said.

“For me personally, the tablets have been a big relief, especially for us who live out of town. All the time that I would have spent going to town to collect the loan forms and then coming back to my village to fill them in and going back to town to hand them over - I can now spend that time farming.”

“It has really reduced the disturbance of filling a lot of papers - sometimes I lose them, also it has really quickened the loan application process. It is now faster than it was before with the paper.”

“After my harvest with the first loan I was able to afford to cultivate another plot of land to plant the onions. With the first loan I got a good profit, and I was able to repaired and finish my house. I also bought a motorcycle that has helped me make my transport easier.”

With the second loan he re-invested on cultivating a larger plot than before, in order to get a bigger harvest.

Nicholaus cultivates onions in about 3 acres of land, all of which belongs to him.

“I would like to thank VisionFund Tanzania for the support they give us with these loans, they have been a great help to my life. The best of all is reducing the paper work,” Nicholaus concluded.

VFT introduced tablets in 2015 – and it has helped make loan processes faster and has also reduced the loan application waiting process. Clients are served on time and the service time has become better.