Scoping the Conveniences of Mobile Money for Micro-entrepreneurs in Kenya

Abstract

Mobile money is a no-frills mobile phone-based payment instrument, which is widely used in many emerging economies, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Knowledge of what mobile money means is of great importance for micro-entrepreneurs who operate in the changing digital environments of emerging economies. Little attention has been devoted to contextual studies on mobile money use by micro-entrepreneurs in emerging economies. With this in mind, this study aims to develop a deeper understanding of what mobile money really means to micro-entrepreneurs. We conducted individual interviews with 23 experts on micro-entrepreneurship and experienced entrepreneurs in Kenya, the emerging economy context of this study. Through qualitative analyses, we filtered the data into a number of meaningful takeaways, which are several “conveniences” of using mobile money by micro-entrepreneurs. The findings show that mobile money contains a lot of positive conveniences for micro-entrepreneurs, including convenience for payments, timely updates, savings and, lastly, convenience of obtaining loaning and overdraft facilities. Other than expanding scholarly knowledge, the findings provide useful practical and managerial insights.