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You've been running a neighborhood tontine for six years in Lomé. Thirty members. CFAF 50,000 a month each. A healthy caisse, an acquired confidence. A regional bank offers you « formalize » tontine: open an account, benefit from bank credit, access guarantees. In return: management fees, mandatory audits, stricter access conditions that will exclude informal members.
To formalize is to grow but lose soul. Staying informal means preserving solidarity but staying out of the system.
What's better for tatin?
- Formalize : access to credit, legal certainty, growth — at the cost of flexibility and informal inclusion.
- Stay informal : preserving trust, accessibility, community spirit — at the price of the limitation.
