Something strange is afoot in Silicon Savannah, Kenya’s much-hyped and oft-feted technology ecosystem. This vibrant hub has birthed everything from Safaricom’s fabled and ludicrously successful M-Pesa mobile money platform to storied startups like M-Kopa, Cellulant, PesaPal, Jumia, and others. However, in recent years, we’ve witnessed a number of well-funded technology

I ask this question after having a candid and unexpected conversation with someone this evening who has operated in Kenya’s digital ecosystem for over 20 years and is now convinced that Kenya’s Silicon Savannah is probably not able to make the leap from dream to reality in its current form.

In the latest episode of the ‘Pure Digital Passion’ podcast, we took a deep dive into the heart of fintech innovation in East Africa. The session, held at the buzzing SemaBox at Baraza Media Lab in Nairobi on the 5th of September 2023 brought together James Kabuthi from Visa East