FiA_2015

Kenya
Ownership 34 Smartphone 15
Population: 44.9 million 32
Adult population over 15 years old
(% from MRV figures): 57
Non-smart
mobile phone
67
Nominal GDP/ Growth (2014): 60,937; 5.3
No phone 18
Percentage of Formally Banked 33 : 55
SUMMARY
Government
Kenya’s main strategic plan is Kenya Vision 2030
which aims to transform the state into a “middle
income country providing a high quality of life” for its
citizens. The plan outlines a structure consisting of
three pillars, from which eight key foundations exist.
Among these foundations is science, technology and
innovation (STI).
One of its many flagship projects is the creation of
the Konza Technology City (KTC), a technology hub
and economic driver for businesses and start-ups.
It is expected to create over 17,000 jobs (projected
realisation, 2018); and to be one of the main
contributors to Kenya Vision 2030’s aim to achieve an
annual growth rate of 10 percent in GDP until 2030.
The project builds on Kenya’s on-going commitment
to strengthen its ICT sector; through The East
African Marine System (TEAMS) and Notational
Optic Fibre Backbone Infrastructure (NOFBI).
These network systems are intended to make the
country more globally connected 35 ; and improve
Kenya Financial Inclusion Targets:
Bank Deposits and Financial Exclusion
80%
44%
Bank Deposits
85%
70%
Financially Excluded
communication between Nairobi and other key towns
in Kenya respectively. The latter will also aid Kenya
in its communication with their government service
delivery too, facilitating the use of e-government 36 .
Government support for finance “through improved
access and deepening of financial services and
products” also directly speaks to FinTech, and more
specifically MFS. Among its many medium term goals
are to: increase bank deposits (from 44 to 80 percent),
reduce the share of those financially excluded from
85 to 70 percent, and encourage greater use of ICT
in the financial sector 37 .
On the ground
The critical success factor for banks and insurers in
Kenya today is the ability to meet customers at their
point of convenience. There is unquestionably no
other greater point of convenience than the mobile
phone. According to a 2015 report delivered by Sterling
Capital, a local brokerage firm, more than 90 percent
of Kenya’s working population (the key target market
for banks and insurers) owns a mobile phone 38 .
Safaricom has proven the most successful FinTech
firm in Kenya as a result through its MFS, M-Pesa. It
has managed to capitalise on this unbanked, mobileowning
population resulting in its dominance of the
market. In the last four years, the Kenyan Treasury
has received a total of KSh23 billion ($230 million) in
dividends from Safaricom: no other company has
ever come close to this figure in recent history.
The Kenyan Revenue Authority has also received
at least KSh51 billion ($510 million) in taxes from
Safaricom over the past half-decade, making the
telecommunications firm the single largest tax payer
in Kenya’s history eclipsing amounts paid by the
Teachers’ Service Commission – the employer of all
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