CENTRAL BANK OF KENYA
Kenya Fintech Forum
Keynote Address by Dr. Patrick Njoroge
Governor, Central Bank of Kenya
Wednesday, March 23, 2022
As Prepared for Delivery
Good Afternoon! I am pleased to join you at the Kenya FinTech Forum. Let me at the
outset express my gratitude for the invite. This event builds on the longstanding
relationship between Kenya and the United Kingdom that has evolved with the changing
global environment. I note in particular the close collaboration in the financial sector—
from commercial banks to the central bank, from enhancing the skills of staff in the
sector to discussing modern-day concerns such as FinTech, climate change, and antimoney laundering. Thank you for being a true partner.
We meet at a critical juncture in the global environment beset by both tailwinds and
headwinds. Let me first frame the conjuncture we are in, with three broad themes.
First, advances in digital financial services in Kenya have been underpinned by the
proliferation of mobile phones, with their penetration at about 132 percent of population.
The explosion of a mobile phone based financial ecosystem has seen access to financial
services in Kenya increase from 26 percent of all adults in 2006, to 83 percent in 2021.
This success has been underpinned by partnerships between incumbent financial
institutions, telecommunication companies and FinTechs, some who are represented here
today. These partnerships have blossomed in an enabling policy and regulatory
framework, set out by the government, regulators, and other policy makers with the
support of our development partners including the United Kingdom.

Second, the COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the most defining event in the last 100
years. It has presented both unprecedented challenges and opportunities. As for the
opportunities, there has been a scale up of digitization building on the innovations and
new technologies that have emerged. Digital platforms have seen the global populace
through the containment measures brought on by the pandemic. The Bigtechs that were
already on the ascent before the pandemic have become an even more integral part of the
global economy.
Third, the pandemic has come with monumental challenges to global lives and
livelihoods that have been adversely impacted. According to estimates by the World
Bank, the effects of the pandemic could lead to up to 100 million people being pushed to
extreme poverty by 2030, if urgent action is not taken. The global goal of shared
prosperity for all by 2030, through the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) has suffered a body blow. Significant resources will be required to get back our
citizens on the path of shared prosperity.
Against this backdrop, how do we move forward particularly as the FinTech
Community? Allow me, to outline three broad themes.
First, people’s needs must remain paramount. It all boils down to what problems are
we solving as innovators, policy makers and governments. Technology and innovations
must become the enablers to solving these problems. However, there are two broad
perspective about how to identify the problem, even though it is meeting people’s needs
that will determine the success or failure of a product or innovation, irrespective of the
approach taken. In the first approach, an innovator could claim to know what the
problem is. This is well illustrated by Steve Jobs, Apple’s founder, in his famous quote;
“Some people say, “Give the customers what they want.” But that's not my approach.
Our job is to figure out what they're going to want before they do.” In my view, this
approach works best when considering a quantum leap in innovation or a product.
The second approach is to engage the public to really understand what they need. This is
important when the product or innovation will need substantial public support, there will
be a significant cost to the public, or the change introduced by the product or innovation
is incremental. In fact this is what informed the issuance of a Discussion Paper on

Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) by the Central Bank of Kenya in February
2022. Any currency, including CBDC, rises or falls on public confidence.
Second, co-operation and collaboration are at the heart of thriving financial
ecosystems. Synergies between regulators, policy makers, financial institutions and other
actors are critical to financial services transformation. Traditional adversarial relations
between regulators and the regulated, and a race-to-the-bottom by competing financial
centres have no place in this new world. There is no room for zero-sum games and we
must aim for win-win outcomes. This is why the symbiotic relationship between Kenya
and the United Kingdom to grow our respective financial centres is particularly
welcome. Together, we will go far for the benefit of our citizens.
Third, the shared prosperity of our citizentry is an imperative that we must focus
on. The rapid digitalization over the last few years has created a growing digital divide,
with Bigtechs reaping outsized benefits. We have seen the meteoric rise of the global
fintechs including Apple, Meta (formerly Facebook), Alphabet and Amazon. Their
valuations on the New York Stock Exchange have hit record highs.
FinTechs have not been left out of this race-to-the-bottom, in their focus on fund raising
and valuations. But in all these, their focus has largely been on the technology and the
short-term gains, and not on the needs of the very people to whom they owe their
existence. As the owners of the Bigtechs and FinTechs have amassed enormous wealth,
large swathes of the global population have been left behind, increasing inequalities.
Greater focus must now be put on technology and innovation that will support
implementation of the SDGs particularly in health, education and other social services,
which have suffered serious setbacks during the pandemic. How do we leverage the
emerging technology and innovations to increase access to finance for Micro, Small and
Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) that are engines of the global economy? How do we
leverage FinTech to raise funding and develop solutions to mitigate and adapt to climate
change?
As I draw to a close, I want to offer you a challenge. We agree on the imperative that we
take a long-term societal view, that what we sow today will be reaped by generations to

come. As an example, when the transistor radio was first invented almost 70 years ago, it
was considered revolutionary. At that time, the digital transformation that would unfold
in later years and render the transistor radio obsolete was not foreseen. Nonetheless for
decades, the transistor radio was a centre of information and entertainment, a source of
joy and pride for millions of households globally. As we look to the future, particularly
as innovators, what will be our transistor radio for generations to come? If you asked me
what is the one innovation I would like to see in the very near term, my answer would be
immediate—a 5 dollar smart phone! In my view, such a phone would unlock for the
widest swarth of our society the benefits of the soon-to-be total coverage of mobile
phone techonology.
I am sure that today’s event will make an important contribution as we seek to have
FinTech work for and with Kenyans. I wish you fruitful deliberations and look forward
to the outcomes of this Forum. And yes, promise you will get me that 5 dollar smart
phone.
Thank You!