Poor people tend to engage in many schemes to make money materialize. These may be income-generating activities, such as farming, trading, artisanal work or laboring for others. They may be investment activities, such as buying a cow that produces daily milk, or a piece of land that they expect will

In December 2012, Kenyan mobile operator Safaricom and its partner bank, the Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA), issued a new banking product, M-Shwari (Swahili words: shwari, meaning ‘calm’ or ‘cool’). M-Shwari was established to serve as a separate interest-earning non-transactional savings account operated through M-PESA, the successful mobile-phone based money transfer system

Lately, you may have come across financial terms that you find confusing. They are; financial literacy, financial education, financial capability and financial inclusion. I want to clarify them for you.  But before I do so, let me give you a contextual background. Sociologists say that every society has five institutions

A year ago today, I lost a nephew, John Gachoka. He was 33 years old. As it is our tradition, my family met to make burial arrangements. We drew a tentative funeral budget of $1,870 all expenses inclusive. John worked in a factory earning a salary of $94 a month

The statement “Money is not everything” and its sister “there are other more important things than money” are common. They are often used by two sets of people: the rich and the poor. They summarize results of an intensive pursuit of money. The rich, having made lots of money, realize

We often talk about the financial needs of the poor. But we really should be talking about their financial concerns. The purpose of finance is not just to help make ends meet, but to create a sense of opportunity and provide peace of mind. To that end, poor people´s financial concerns revolve mainly