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Digital finance and the mobile money “social” enterprise : a socio-legal critique of M-Pesa in Kenya
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Natile, Serena (2020) Digital finance and the mobile money “social” enterprise : a socio-legal critique of M-Pesa in Kenya. Historical Social Research, 45 (3). pp. 74-94. doi:10.2307/26918405 ISSN 0172-6404.
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Official URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26918405
Abstract
Financial technology or fintech initiatives are gaining increasing global attention as instruments for financial inclusion and economic and social development. Among such initiatives, mobile-phone-enabled money transfer systems, or “mobile money”, have been particularly acclaimed for facilitating access to financial services and creating opportunities for the so-called “unbanked poor”. One of the first and most-discussed mobile money projects to date is M-Pesa in Kenya, a digital payment system which is now used by over 70 per cent of the Kenyan population across a variety of sectors including finance, commerce, education, health, and social welfare. M-Pesa is premised on a narrative of social entrepreneurship and has increasingly embraced the idea of philanthrocapitalism, promoting the logic that digital financial inclusion can simultaneously address social problems and produce profit. This paper brings together socio-legal enquiry and international political economy analysis to illustrate the institutional arrangements underpinning the development of M-Pesa and examine some of the projects built on its infrastructure. It argues that social entrepreneurship promotes a logic of opportunity rather than a politics of redistribution, favouring mobile money providers and the institutions involved in the mobile money social business over improving the lives of the intended beneficiaries, namely the unbanked poor.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
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| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HG Finance J Political Science > JX International law K Law [Moys] > KC International Law |
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Law | ||||||
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Financial services industry -- Information technology, Financial services industry -- Technological innovations, International finance -- Law and legislation, Financial services industry -- Security measures | ||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Historical Social Research | ||||||
| Publisher: | GESIS - Leibniz-Institut fuer Sozialwissenschaften in Koeln | ||||||
| ISSN: | 0172-6404 | ||||||
| Official Date: | July 2020 | ||||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | 45 | ||||||
| Number: | 3 | ||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 74-94 | ||||||
| DOI: | 10.2307/26918405 | ||||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||
| Description: | Special Issue: Social Finance, Impact Investing, and the Financialization of the Public Interest |
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| Date of first compliant deposit: | 29 December 2020 | ||||||
| Date of first compliant Open Access: | 7 January 2021 | ||||||
| Open Access Version: |
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