Most of Kenya’s Fintech solutions are built on the premise of alternative data sources and information sharing to inform decisions, business models, and monetisation models. With the Data Protection Act now in place and draft regulations published, innovators in Kenya now need to think more deeply about innovation that is balanced with compliance with the law.  

In May 2017, a special focus in The Economist likened data to the fuel of the future, noting that “data are to this century what oil was to the last one: a driver of growth and change” predicting that the largest conglomerates of the future will be data-driven firms like Google, Tencent, Amazon, and so on, in much the same way the previous century’s oil and manufacturing conglomerates defined the industrial revolution.  

On Thursday July 29th 2021, FSD Kenya made oral submissions to the Parliamentary Committee reviewing the Landlord and Tenant Bill 2021.

Recent technological innovations in Kenya are going far in supporting the growth of Kenya’s affordable housing market, by providing an opportunity to leapfrog the less flexible systems that have  dominated housing supply in the past.

Restrictions introduced in March 2020 to control the spread of COVID-19 have had a devastating effect on rural livelihoods in Kenya.

Insights from these interviews suggest a number of ideas for intervention to support recovery and rebuilding.

In November 2020, FSD Kenya was invited to co-chair a session at the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Frontiers of Development Symposium. The 2020 symposium, bringing together experts and mid-career professionals from sciences and social sciences, debated the question: ‘How can we build resilience in world of shared resources?’. The symposium focused on 3 areas: economic resources, human resources and natural resources. FSD Kenya was asked to co-chair a session on economic resources together with Eka Ikpe of Kings College London. 

COVID-19 has underlined the need to fundamentally re-imagine the ways in which we produce and distribute resources.

In Kenya, divergence trends continue with macroeconomic resilience masking sustained inequalities and divergence in recovery. On one hand, inflation remains reasonable; export performance has been relatively strong (especially relative to other African countries); diaspora remittances have been robust; and the mobile money sector has demonstrated sustained resilience and growth.

Rather than a ‘cost’ to the state, social protection is an essential component of any sustainable, national economic growth strategy. Most of the world’s successful economies are significant investors in social protection, with spending across the OECD averaging 12 per cent of GDP.

FSD Kenya implemented a four-year pilot graduation project targeting beneficiaries of the Hunger Safety Net Programme (HSNP) in Laisamis Sub County (Laisamis, Gudas, Logologo, Korr, Merille, Irrir), which provides a bi-monthly cash transfer of Ksh 5,400 (about US$ 54).

It is hard to believe it has been more than a year since the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in Kenya, forcing us to make many unanticipated adjustments about the way we worked.

Most significantly, we had to shift to remote working. One year down the line, I am immensely proud of our team for staying the course so far and maintaining our momentum despite the disruption of COVID-19.

Kenya’s credit information sharing (CIS) mechanism has been under development for ten years now since the formal launch in July 2010. Anchored in the Banking Act, the mechanism was primarily
established for institutions licensed under the Banking Act.

The COVID-19 pandemic, termed ‘the Great Disruption’ hit the global economy in 2020 and was defined by divergent impact within and between economies. 2021 is already being defined by multispeed and divergent recovery in the global and local economies.