5 out of 10 Kenyan drivers identify ride-hailing as their main source of livelihood.
Kenya’s ride-hailing sector has now become a critical lifeline for urban workers, with more than half of drivers on platforms like Bolt and Uber depending on it as their primary source of income, a new survey has revealed.
A gig economy report by Estonian ride-hailing and delivery startup, Bolt, based on findings by researcher Ipsos, shows that 53 per cent of Kenyan drivers identify ride-hailing as their main livelihood, a significantly higher reliance compared with other top African markets.
“In Kenya, 53 per cent of drivers regard ride-hailing as their primary source of income, indicating a strong reliance on the platform economy for sustaining daily earnings,” says the report.
The findings highlight how digital taxis, which launched in Kenya in 2015, have become a broad economic platform that now absorbs informal workers, expanding access to digital financial tools, and creating new income opportunities in urban markets.
In Nigeria, only about 25 per cent of drivers depend primarily on ride-hailing, while in South Africa the figure stands at roughly 30 per cent. Many drivers in these countries use platform earnings to supplement other sources of income rather than as their sole livelihood.
The gig economy refers to a labour market characterised by short-term contracts or freelance work as opposed to permanent jobs. It includes e-commerce, ride-hailing, and freelancing. The report places the size of Kenya’s gig economy market at $1.03 billion (Sh133.37 billion).
Mobile money platforms such as M-Pesa and Airtel Money are central to this ecosystem, which Ipsos says has enabled digital taxi drivers to manage earnings efficiently.
According to the World Bank’s Global Findex Database, 40 per cent of adults in sub-Saharan Africa held a mobile money account in 2024, up from 27 per cent three years earlier, while the share of adults with formal savings rose to 35 per cent. The informal sector has long dominated Kenya’s labour market.
Ride-hailing app Uber.
Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), for instance, shows that of the estimated 782,300 new jobs created in 2024, around 703,700, or 90 per cent, were in the informal sector.
Within this context, Ipsos says digital platforms such as ride-hailing are emerging as a flexible and accessible pathway for income generation, absorbing labour and reshaping service delivery outside traditional formal employment.
“Kenya’s gig economy has grown into a billion-dollar market, supported by widespread smartphone access and driven primarily by e-commerce and ride-hailing, which together account for the largest share of gig-based economic activity contributing to national output,” the report says.
As of June 2025, Kenya had 1.54 million gig workers. E-commerce contributes 42 per cent of gig-based economic activity, ride-hailing 20 per cent, and freelancing 17 per cent.
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