Mobile Money Kenya

Report

An Institute for Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion (IMTFI) working paper by Sibel Kusimba and colleagues at Northern Illinois University examining the social networks underpinning mobile money use in Kenya, based on fieldwork in Bungoma and Trans-Nzoia counties and among Kenyans in Chicago during 2012. The research finds that although often described as ‘banking’, mobile money in western Kenya functions primarily as a social and economic tool for gifting, supporting relatives, organising savings groups and contributing to ceremonies, with matrilineal kinship ties, especially through mothers, playing a prominent role in how money and airtime circulate among those with limited access to other resources.