Creating and setting up your group

Who can create a group

Any user who signs up can create a group and automatically becomes that group's Secretary.

If you don't intend to manage a group, or you're not an official in your group, we recommend inviting your Secretary — or whoever will be managing your group in Kosalo — instead of creating one yourself.

Creating a new group

Every group created comes with a free 1-month trial. Here's how to create a new group:

1. On your home screen, go to the menu and select Groups.
2. Once in the Groups page, type your group name and choose the current cycle you'd like to start with. Learn more on the Cycles page.
3. Select a membership plan for your group. There are 3 plans available:
   Starter

   Up to 15 members

   Standard

   Up to 50 members

   Community

   Up to 100 members
4. Tap Start Group — this takes you to the group setup page to finish setting up your group.

Group setup

Once you've created your group, complete the setup by doing the following:

1. Select your group's location — county, constituency, and ward (wherever you normally hold meetings or reside).
2. Select your savings frequency. This determines how you'll record contributions and view reports — Kosalo supports weekly and monthly frequency.
3. Choose your types of contributions. Default fields are loans, shares, and fines. Optional fields include starting capital, social funds, development fund, and welfare.
4. Choose your dividend calculation and payout model. Learn more on the Dividend & Payout Model page.
5. Enter your loan interest rate. This is used to auto-calculate interest on any loan you record.

Confirm your details are correct, then proceed. You can always make changes later from Group Settings in the menu.

Once setup is complete, you'll land on your dashboard with your new group set as active. From there, head to the Members page to start adding your group members.

Weekly vs. monthly groups

Kosalo currently supports weekly or monthly recording. This isn't permanent — a group's Secretary can always change it later in Group Settings.

Weekly groups show 52 weeks in the Activity page while recording contributions; monthly groups show 12 months.