Technological advances in the financial services sector is expected to help drive economic growth and make Kenya a middle income economy by 2030.
Increased efficiency gains derived from the new platform, for instance, enabled the bank to increase in the number of customers a single staff member can serve and ultimately easing congestion in its banking halls.
ICT here refers to tools that facilitate the collection, analysis and storage of information technologies, which include computers, internet, mobile phones, e-mail and the web.
The entry of mobile phone operators such as Safaricom and Airtel has seen them provide a variety of ICT services in various sectors such as agriculture, tourism and trade.
There are other ICT agricultural applications that are just as useful, including M-Farm, DrumNet and Virtual City.
However, according to Dan Radcliffe in his 2013 paper, ‘Mobile Payments Go Viral,’ M-Pesa in Kenya, this population is the target of ICT services such as Safaricom’s payment service.
By 2009, it had transferred over Sh9 billion through the system. M-Pesa reaches the underserved market – unable to benefit from the banking industry. These are the poor masses.
It is for this reason that M-Pesa has continued to receive support from banking regulator Central Bank of Kenya (CBK).
For instance, airline carriers such as Kenya Airways conduct business through electronic tickets for domestic and foreign tourists who want to visit the country.
The 2017 Kenya National ICT Master plan envisions a situation where mobile phone applications, games and services can be used to enhance the profile of the tourism sector.
