New research from Caribou Data provides a unique perspective into the digital lives of micro-entrepreneurs in Kenya, quantifying how they use digital platforms to enable their business.
This work, in collaboration with the Partnership for Finance in a Digital Africa (FiDA) and supported by the Mastercard Foundation, complements previous field work that interviewed business owners in Kenya to better https://mse.financedigitalafrica.org/.
We found that while 27% of MSEs use dedicated marketplace platforms such as Jumia or Upwork, 92% of MSEs who use digital tools rely on personal consumer apps such as Facebook and WhatsApp to carry out key business functions, a practice typically referred to as “social commerce.” These apps enjoy deep penetration and helpful features that make them an easy (and free) choice. This appropriation of general purpose mobile technology for business use is by no means new, but its occurrence is likely increasing as more emerging market micro-entrepreneurs https://mse.financedigitalafrica.org/2018/02/search-promotion-discovery/.
