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Designing for resilience: Rethinking digital credit for financial health
September 17th, 2025
Kenya’s financial landscape has undergone a significant transformation over the last 20 years. Mobile money has propelled formal financial inclusion to the highest levels recorded, narrowing the gender financial inclusion gap and expanding access.
Yet beneath this progress lies a sobering reality: rising credit uptake has not translated into improved financial health, and in fact, savings are stagnating, debt stress is mounting, and millions remain vulnerable to economic shocks.
This slide deck, presented by Tamara Cook at the 2nd National Credit Market Convention, interrogates the paradox of inclusion without resilience. Drawing on FinAccess 2024 data, it explores how digital credit products can be redesigned to support long-term financial well-being, especially for women, youth, farmers, and micro-entrepreneurs. The evidence is clear: financial health must be embedded into the architecture of digital finance, not treated as an afterthought.
Designing for resilience – Integrating financial health in digital credit products
