Background Financial Services Associations (FSAs) are rural membership-based financial institutions offering credit, savings, and money transaction services to their members. The basic FSA model is similar in many respects to other types of decentralized financial institutions, such as savings and credit co-operatives, with local ownership of the money contributed and a strong emphasis on user-owner […]
By Felistus Mbole A big question amidst the current COVID-19 has been, how are community-based finance models fairing? Will community-based finance survive the pandemic? The first COVID-19 in Kenya was reported in mid-March 2020. Two of the cases registered in March were in communities where financial services associations (FSAs) operate, with some of their immediate[…..]
Kenyans are learning about money earlier than you might think Kenyans are learning about money earlier than you might think: as early as four or five they’re picking up financial lessons from their parents. By 18, almost a third have mobile money accounts. The ubiquity of mobile money means finance in Kenya is changing fast and[…..]
Financial access is accelerating A third of adults around the world don’t have it. Financial access is the ability to get financial services such as savings accounts, credit, insurance, and loans– things two billion adultsaround the world don’t have. In Africa those numbers are even less, under 20% of African households have access to formal financial services. But it[…..]