Kagondu Njagi for Reuters
Sitting on a low bench at her shop in a Nairobi slum, Grace Wangari sifted through a handful of grains that a waiting customer had just ordered.
As she poured them into a shopping bag, the customer scrolled through her phone to pay for the purchase.
People wear face masks while queueing during a mass testing for Covid-19. File photo.
Photo: AFP
Normally, Wangari would have been paid in shilling notes, Kenya s hard currency, but in some ways she preferred the digital payment that was instantly transferred to her phone. I am happy with this transaction because there is no risk of losing my stock to conmen or people who have come to take goods on credit, said Wangari, a middle-aged trader in Mukuru Kayiaba, one of the city s poorest slums.
By Kagondu Njagi, Thomson Reuters Foundation
6 Min Read
NAIROBI, Jan 20 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Sitting on a low bench at her shop in a Nairobi slum, Grace Wangari sifted through a handful of grains that a waiting customer had just ordered.
As she poured them into a shopping bag, the customer scrolled through her phone to pay for the purchase.
Normally, Wangari would have been paid in shilling notes, Kenya’s hard currency, but in some ways she preferred the digital payment that was instantly transferred to her phone.
“I am happy with this transaction because there is no risk of losing my stock to conmen or people who have come to take goods on credit,” said Wangari, a middle-aged trader in Mukuru Kayiaba, one of the city’s poorest slums.
Sitting on a low bench at her shop in a Nairobi slum, Grace Wangari sifted through a handful of grains that a waiting customer had just ordered.
As she poured them into a shopping bag, the customer scrolled through her phone to pay for the purchase.
Normally, Wangari would have been paid in shilling notes, Kenya’s hard currency, but in some ways she preferred the digital payment that was instantly transferred to her phone.
“I am happy with this transaction, because there is no risk of losing my stock to conmen or people who have come to take goods on credit,” said Wangari,