Digital finance

For us, Fintech only matters if it is helping Kenyans solve real-world problems or seize genuine opportunities.

With its launch in 2007, M-PESA changed the way Kenyans transact with each other. In doing so, impact studies found that it significantly improved the ability of social networks to help people manage shocks

FSD Kenya is pleased to announce that its 4th annual lecture on financial inclusion will be delivered by Julian Kyula on the 8th of November 2018.

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.

A presentation and panel discussion by FSD Kenya on tech-enabled lending in Africa.

Data protection is one of the most important issues currently facing the Kenyan economy. On July 17th FSD Kenya submitted public comments to the Data Protection Bill, 2018 presented by the Senate ICT Committee.

The combination of a regulatory sandbox and a one-stop-shop regulatory helpline is what the Kenyan fintech market needs to continue innovating.

On 30th June 2017, M-Akiba, a Kenyan government bond sold through the mobile phone, was launched.

After many years, the involvement of many partners and many iterations, M-Akiba, a Kenyan government bond sold through the mobile phone, was launched in 2017.

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?

Today, mobile money has managed to penetrate over 70% of the Kenyan population, with more people claiming access to services such as Safaricom’s M-Pesa than ever before.

Up until now studies concerning mobile money and financial inclusion have focused largely on aggregate adoption rates and usage trends. Few have shed light on the ways in which women, men and young adults (men and women ages 18-25), use mobile money differently.

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?

Meaningful financial solutions can help poor people manage day to day, deal with risk and invest in the future.

n May 2017, I had the honour of being on a fascinating Euromoney panel about expanding the digital financial ecosystem. One of the many topics that we discussed was the dearth of debt financing available for fintechs and start-ups limiting the potential for scale.

Kenyans are learning about money earlier than you might think: as early as four or five they’re picking up financial lessons from their parents. By 18, almost a third have mobile money accounts.

In order to understand the take‐up, use, and impacts of M‐PESA in Kenya, US based Principal Investigators William Jack (Georgetown) and Tavneet Suri (MIT Sloan School of Management) conducted a set of five surveys across Kenya, starting in yearly between 2008 and 2011, with a fifth survey conducted in 2014 to look at the longer-term impacts of M-PESA.

The telecom sector in Kenya has experienced phenomenal growth over the past decade. Mobile phone penetration has topped 90%, with 78% of Kenyan adults now owning a working mobile phone.

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.

How the use of non-financial services can help bankers deliver effective financing.

Poor communication between entrepreneurs and their bankers is often a stumbling block in the delivery of effective financing for enterprise growth throughout the world. The use of non-financial services (NFS) can help with this.

Can digital innovations replicate the “three-padlock” concept of the money box?

Beneath the surface of many of the disruptive applications we use everyday is a growing web of APIs – application program interfaces that enable applications to “talk” to one another.

The inaugural annual lecture on financial inclusion was held at the historic Nairobi National Museum on Tuesday 17th November. It was a storming success. The lecture delivered by Dr Tavneet Suri examined the mobile money revolution in Kenya, and asked, can the promise of financial inclusion for all Kenyans be fulfilled?