Day 8 of 30 Days of Python Projects: Building a Nigerian SME Loan & Repayment Tracker with Dictionaries 🐍

Source: Dev.to

🚀 Day 8 – Python Dictionaries in Action

Welcome to Day 8 of my 30 Days of Python Projects challenge!

Today’s project focuses on Python dictionaries while solving a real‑world problem common to Nigerian and African SMEs: loan tracking and repayment management.

🌍 The Real Problem (African Context)

Across Nigeria, many small businesses collect loans from:

• Cooperative societies
• Micro‑finance banks
• Thrift groups (ajo / esusu)

Unfortunately, loan records are often kept using:

• Paper notebooks
• WhatsApp chats
• Human memory 😬

This leads to:

• Forgotten repayments
• Disputes between partners
• Financial losses
• Business failure

❗ Why This Matters

• SMEs are the backbone of African economies.
• Poor record‑keeping increases loan defaults.
• Transparency builds trust.
• Simple Python tools can make a big difference.

🧠 Python Concepts Practiced (Day 8 Focus)

This beginner‑friendly project reinforces:

• Dictionaries (dict)
• Key‑value pairs
• Nested dictionaries
• Looping through dictionaries
• Updating values
• Clean, readable output formatting

🛠️ Project Overview

Nigerian SME Loan & Repayment Tracker

The program:

• Stores loan records for SMEs.
• Tracks how much was borrowed.
• Tracks how much has been repaid.
• Automatically calculates outstanding balances.
• Displays loan status clearly.