Ajo

“Ajo” means two different things, and Arcle does both. If you just say “ajo”, Arcle asks one question: saving on your own, or with a group?

Ajo savings (on your own)

1. 1
   Start it

   “Start an akawo of ₦500 a day” — 30 days unless you say otherwise (7 to 90). Today's payment is taken straight away.

2. 2
   It runs by itself

   The same amount is taken from your balance each day. If your balance is short, that day is retried within the hour once you top up.

3. 3
   Pay in extra any time

   “Add ₦1,000 to my ajo” — for a missed day, or just because.

4. 4
   Get it all back

   On the last day, everything you saved returns to your spendable balance.

Leaving early: there's no lock and no penalty, but you give notice — say “withdraw my ajo” and your money comes back in 3 days (or up to 5, if you ask). Daily payments pause while you wait. Changed your mind? Say “keep saving” and it carries on as if nothing happened.

Cost: 1% of each payment — ₦5 on a ₦500 day — with no minimum. A collector usually keeps about a day in every thirty.

Rotating ajo (with a group)

1. 1
   Create it

   “Start a weekly rotating ajo of ₦5,000” — choose the amount and how often a round is (daily, weekly or monthly). You get a code to share.

2. 2
   Friends join

   Each person says “join pool CODE”. Before they agree, Arcle shows them every rule below. Agreeing means they accept the automatic payments.

3. 3
   Start it

   When at least 3 people have joined, the creator says “start the ajo CODE”. The order of turns is drawn at random — nobody, not even the creator, picks who goes first.

4. 4
   Each round

   On the due date, every member except the one collecting has the amount taken from their Arcle balance. When the round is in, the pot goes to that round's collector.

5. 5
   Until everyone has had a turn

   Each member collects exactly once. Then it ends.

The rules that protect the group

• 48 hours to top up. If your balance is short on a due date, you get 48 hours to fund it before you're treated as having missed.
• Missed before your turn? You're removed from the ajo and your turn is cancelled. What you'd already paid stays in the ajo — it went to members who collected before you.
• Early turns hold some back. Whoever collects in the first turns has part of their payout held — up to half on turn 1, less each turn after — and released as they pay their remaining rounds. That's what makes it safe to let someone collect before they've paid in.
• Collected, then stopped paying? Their held-back money covers their missed rounds first, and any money that later arrives in their account keeps paying what they owe.
• A missed payment follows you. Anyone who misses is blocked from joining new rotating ajos.
• Honest about the risk. If a member collects and then can't be made to pay, whatever is still missing comes out of the payouts of the members who collect after them. Arcle holds the money — it doesn't insure it. The holds above exist to keep that small.

What you can see

Open the Workspace panel (the right-hand panel in the app) to see your ajos live: the current round, how many have paid this round, the order of turns with yours highlighted, and any of your money that's held back. You see counts, never who — other members can't see whether you paid, and you can't see whether they did.

Cost

0.2% of each payment, added on top — the pot always receives the full amount. The person who started the ajo takes nothing.

Try it

Want a group pot without turns — a gift, a shared target, splitting a bill? That's a Group Pool.