Survey: Kenyans turn to friends and mobile apps for loans
A man stands next to an M-Shwari poster on Tom Mboya Street, Nairobi. Most Kenyans take loans from M-Shwari. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
About 38 per cent of those interviewed had a mobile account and of these, 87 per cent had taken an M-Shwari loan.
Food is the biggest expense at 15 per cent, followed by education at nine per cent and clothing at eight per cent.
Kenyans are increasingly becoming a credit society but they are shunning traditional sources of credit when they want to borrow.
At a formidable 49 per cent, friends are still the first port of call when it comes to borrowing, the survey by Consumer Insight Kenya shows.
Friends are closely followed by mobile phone-based loans, which account for 38 per cent of borrowing, which is much higher than banks at 10 per cent.
Only two per cent of those interviewed said they borrowed from shylocks.
M-SHWARI
About 38 per cent of those interviewed had a mobile account and of these, 87 per cent had taken an M-Shwari loan, followed in second place by KCB-M-Pesa and Equitel in third, accounting for only two per cent of the loans.
“In the last three months, 21 per cent borrowed twice or more from M-Shwari compared to 15 per cent from KCB-MPesa,” the report says.
Part-time businesses or side hustles are also increasingly becoming a respectable source of supplementary income for many Kenyans, especially among young people.
EXPENSES
And when it comes to spending, food is the biggest expense at 15 per cent, followed by education at nine per cent and clothing at eight per cent.
Kenyans save about seven per cent of their monthly income.
It would also appear that the gender equality debate is yielding results, as Kenyan women are increasingly contributing more to their households.
Female respondents are reported to contribute over 70 per cent to the household budget, and women are now having more say over how to spend money within the family.
GAMBLING
Women are comfortable leaving the headache of which electronics to purchase to the men, but are heavily involved in purchase decisions of important properties such as cars and homes.
Gambling continues to be a major issue among young males within the middle and upper class, as it contributes to three per cent of the total income among this demographic.
