On June 21st, 1948 the ‘Empire Windrush’ arrived at Tilbury Docks in Essex, England.
World War Two had left Britain short of workers and needing to rebuild. Drawn by the promise of employment, the Windrush carried hundreds of passengers from the Caribbean hoping to start a new life in the UK. But it wasn’t easy.
They spoke of how hard it was to find accommodation, in not being able to open a bank account or secure a mortgage. Turned away by banks and facing a lifetime of financial exclusion, they decided to work together.
Using a community savings system from back home called Pardna they would pool their money together to help each other save. Eventually many used their savings to buy homes in cash. In his oral history Samuel King MBE, who was on the Windrush, tells the story:
“We were the second black family to buy a house in Camberwell, this was 1950. Over the next 12 years my family played a part in buying about half of all the property owned by blacks in Camberwell. Because we couldn’t get mortgages we pooled all our money together to help others. We called it a ‘partner’ which is the same in Jamaica, and it worked very well.”
A 'pardna’ or ‘partner’ is a partnership among people to save collectively. Although called different names around the world, academically they are known as Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (ROSCAs).
What are ROSCAs and why do people use them?
A ROSCA is a savings group where each person agrees to save a set amount, usually monthly.
The group pools their monthly contributions together, making a communal pot. For example, if four people agreed to save $25 each for four months the communal pot would be worth $100 (4 people x $25).
Each month, the whole pot is gifted to a different member of the group until everyone has received the full amount once.
This model helps people build savings through social accountability.
Since the communal pot relies on everybody contributing their share, members are more likely to save, since the rest of the group depends on them.
In 2023, nearly 1 in 6 properties sold in Brazil were financed using Consórcios - a formalised ROSCA model (Valor Econômico, 2024).
Why are ROSCAs in danger?
Inflation is quietly destroying ROSCAs and savings in general.
For example, since 2012, the Ghanaian Cedi, Nigerian Naira, and Brazilian Real have lost approximately 88%, 65%, and 55% of their value.
In Turkey, Argentina, and Venezuela, the situation is even worse — with local currencies losing over 90% of their value or collapsing entirely.
And it’s not just inflation.
In Lebanon, Argentina and Nigeria, people have also faced capital controls — with banks and government restricting access to their U.S. dollar savings or forcibly converting them into rapidly devaluing local currencies.
Today, we need ROSCAs that can’t be censored which let people to save in stable, inflation-resistant currencies.