Debt and Financial Inclusion in Kenya: Digital Lending and Co-operative Societies (Routledge Research on African Economics)

This book investigates people’s relationship with credit and debt in Kenya.Exploring two increasingly popular financial services providers, digital lenders and cooperative societies, the book identifies fundamental flaws in financial inclusion strategies deployed in Kenya and their ability to alleviate poverty. Co-operatives have long been important institutions for low to middle income Kenyans, long before the financial inclusion discourse came about.But it was the advent of mobile money in 2008 that transformed Kenya’s financial services industry tremendously, and saw different fintech innovations built on the M-Pesa platform.In the last decade or so there has been a digital credit boom in Kenya with institutions of different kinds and more recently the government offering microloans to millions of Kenyans, arguing that that credit has the potential to help the poor forge their paths out of poverty.Based on extensive original research, this book examines how digital lenders and Savin