Matha Wiliam

Matha owns a taxi business. She owns a car in which her sole employee drives customers to their desired destinations. Matha currently earns US$ 75 from her business and is requesting a loan of US$ 275 that she intends to put towards the repair and maintenance of her car. She hopes that this will allow her to rent out her car for more hours each day and therefore earn increased profits.

SELFINA has taken a lead role as a pioneer of micro-credit in Tanzania through Micro-Leasing. The organization is engaged in the economic empowerment of women in Tanzania through the provision of a leasing and leaseback microfinance facility as a practical way to achieve the economic and social emancipation of women.

Customs and traditions in Tanzania normally make it difficult for women to own land and assets, thus they are termed non-creditworthy by financial institutions as they lack tangible collateral assets. This leads to poor financial support hence the poor access to basic needs and services for women with low incomes.

When a client needs working capital to buy a specific item, SELFINA buys the equipment for said client and extends a loan to her. The same equipment is then leased back to the client so they can use it while in process of paying back their loan – a process called a sale and leaseback arrangement. Once the loan has been repaid, SELFINA transfers the ownership of the equipment to the client.

The advantage of microleasing over traditional microfinance loans is that it allows clients to use the equipment as collateral for future loans with SELFINA, thus enabling them to borrow larger sums in the future.