Examining the usage and impact of transformational m-banking in Kenya

Abstract

Since its introduction in March of 2007, the M-PESA application has acquired a user base of over five million, and an agent network of over five thousand. Because of its rapid growth, the application has received a significant amount of attention. There have been assertions that it can engender transformational benefits by providing the unbanked with new opportunities to access financial services. There is, however, very little discussion of what these transformational benefits are and how they are engendered. This paper will contribute to filling this gap in the literature. It will draw from ethnographic fieldwork that was deployed over a period of fourteen months in two locations-an informal settlement near Nairobi and a farming village in Western Kenya. It will show that the M-PESA application was utilized for the cultivation of livelihood strategies. Such strategies helped residents to cope with (temporarily adjust) and recover from (longer term shifts in livelihood strategies) stresses and shocks. The outcomes of these strategies will also be discussed. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.