Chapter 1: High-end and Mid-market Savings Groups: A Pan-African Phenomenon

Savings are critical for individual and societal welfare. At the individual level, savings help households to smooth consumption and finance productive investment in human and business capital. At the macro level, savings are strongly predictive of future economic growth (Solow, 1956; Romer, 1986). Savings groups (SGs) are one of the strategies that could scale up the financial inclusion agenda by mobilising surplus funds into the banking system, increasing inclusive finance. SGs are usually linked to low-income households in poor and developing countries. Now the concept of middle-class and high-end collective savings behaviour emerges in developing and low-income countries. Research on these groups is limited.