Edoardo Totolo
Edoardo contributes to FSD's knowledge generation by leading research on SME and household finance, credit information sharing, mobile financial services and credit market development. He holds a PhD in Development Economics from the University of Trento and an MSc from the University of Amsterdam. Before joining FSD-Kenya, Edoardo worked as a consultant in SME finance and lectured comparative industrial strategies at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Nairobi.
Articles by Edoardo Totolo:
This report is the second in a series of studies that measure the cost of banking services in Kenya. It follows the first report that was released in 2017 and constitutes a complementary element in the measurement of the financial inclusion landscape in Kenya.
November 13th, 2019
Digital credit audit report: Evaluating the conduct and practice of digital lending in Kenya
Francis Gwer
Digital credit has been instrumental in granting formal credit in ways that were not conceivable a decade ago. It has provided individuals with the tools to manage their day-to-day needs and working capital for small enterprises.
October 10th, 2018
Digital credit in Kenya: evidence from demand-side surveys
Edoardo Totolo
In the past five years, digital loans have transformed the market for credit in Kenya. For millions of adults, the possibility of borrowing from their phones has opened the door to private, formal consumer credit for the first time.
Digital credit has become a leading source of credit in Kenya. Who is using digital credit and what impact is it having on low-income customers?
March 1st, 2018
The digital credit revolution in Kenya: an assessment of market demand, 5 years on
Edoardo Totolo
Five years after Kenya launched the world’s first digital credit solution, the market for digital credit has expanded rapidly in Kenya and many low-income countries. But exactly how big is the market? Who’s using digital credit? And what impact is it having on low-income customers?
Although this question seems simple and straightforward, answering it is more difficult than it looks.
This report outlines the findings from a two-year study by FSD Kenya to understand the costs for banking services in Kenya. Two rounds of mystery shopping surveys were completed in October and November of 2015 and 2016
to build a database and measure the costs for basic bundles of transactions such as opening, running and closing bank accounts.
Banking remains the largest sub-sector by assets and the most systemically significant in Kenya’s financial services sector. Developments, especially those enabled by technology, have brought a sizeable number of new, mostly poorer and vulnerable first-time consumers into the market.
October 18th, 2016
Four differences and five similarities of digital credit markets in Kenya and Tanzania
Edoardo Totolo
While both Kenya and Tanzania registered fast uptake of digital credit, a new study by FSD Kenya and CGAP with almost 8000 individuals found considerable differences as well as similarities in the adoption and use of digital credit in the two countries.
