Tech leaders discuss Kenya’s role in fintech growth

Leaders from across Kenya’s financial-technology (fintech) ecosystem recently gathered at events and forums to debate the country’s expanding role in fintech — highlighting both progress and challenges as Kenya seeks to solidify its position as a continental fintech hub. At the Africa Fintech Forum 2025 (AFF 4.0) in Nairobi, scheduled for 15 October 2025, speakers from startups, traditional banks, regulators, and investors underscored Kenya’s growing strength in digital payments, lending platforms, and financial inclusion.
Discussions centered on how Kenya’s established mobile-money history — notably platforms like M-Pesa — combined with emerging innovations in credit scoring, digital lending, and cross-platform payments places the country in a strong position to lead Africa’s fintech revolution. According to a sector overview published in April 2025, Kenya hosts some of Africa’s most active fintech events and has become a launchpad for companies developing secure transaction infrastructure, digital banking tools and fintech apps for local and global markets.
At the same time, tech-sector leaders emphasised the importance of strengthening regulation, industry coordination, and consumer protection as the fintech ecosystem expands. One major development was the unveiling of the Fintech Alliance in early 2025 — a coalition aimed at uniting Kenya’s fragmented fintech players under a common voice, advocating for supportive policy, and promoting responsible growth of digital financial services.
Looking forward, panelists and stakeholders agreed that sustaining Kenya’s fintech momentum will require ongoing collaboration between government, startups, financial institutions, and regulators — especially to scale digital-finance access to underserved communities, support financial-inclusion goals outlined in the Kenya National Financial Inclusion Strategy 2025–2028, and ensure the ecosystem remains secure, innovative, and inclusive.