By Ayomide Otitoju
Ten years ago in Mombasa, Watu set out to answer a simple yet ambitious question: what would happen if more people in the informal economy had access to the tools needed to earn a stable income? Over the past decade, the organisation has found that the impact extends far beyond individual benefit—it can drive broad economic transformation.
Millions of people now rely on motorcycles, tuk-tuks, and smartphones to participate in the rapidly growing digital and service economies. These tools facilitate transportation, payments, logistics, and connections between entrepreneurs, customers, and suppliers. Yet, access to such assets was long limited to those meeting strict formal credit requirements, excluding most working people.
Since its founding, Watu has expanded to eight African countries and two in Latin America, supporting over 5 million customers whose livelihoods underpin urban movement and economic activity. The company’s experience underscores that entrepreneurship in these markets is rarely optional—it is how families pay school fees, build homes, and sustain communities.
Watu’s journey evolved from table banking to mobility financing and later to digital connectivity. The organisation found that owning an income-generating asset, particularly a motorcycle, had a more immediate impact on earnings than small loans. As smartphones became essential tools, Watu expanded into device financing. Across both mobility and connectivity, the principle remains: access to the right tools unlocks the ability to earn, plan, and progress.
Scaling operations has also brought challenges. Economic shocks, income volatility, and regulatory shifts tested both customers and Watu’s model. These experiences prompted improved assessment of affordability, clearer communication of obligations, and enhanced customer support during hardships. Watu emphasises that responsible growth requires learning as quickly as it expands.
Looking ahead, Watu identifies three major trends reshaping work and mobility in Africa and other emerging markets: the electrification of transport, the rise of digital payments, and the structuring of informal work through technology and digital identity. These shifts offer lower costs, better margins, environmental benefits, and greater access to finance—but only if systems evolve in step with the people who rely on them.
As Watu enters its second decade, the focus is shifting from simply broadening access to accelerating upward mobility. A motorcycle or smartphone is now a starting point, not the endpoint. The company aims to help customers move from their first asset to business expansion, anticipate income shocks using data, and collaborate with regulators, manufacturers, and development partners to ensure new technologies, such as electric mobility, deliver real economic benefits.
Watu’s experience highlights the resourcefulness and determination of entrepreneurs in informal markets, whose work creates jobs, sustains services, and keeps cities moving. The challenge is ensuring that financial, regulatory, and technological infrastructure keeps pace with them.
The company’s mission remains clear: to scale responsibly, innovate boldly, and stay connected to the realities of the entrepreneurs driving economies. Watu’s decade-long journey demonstrates that providing hardworking people with the right tools does more than enable inclusion—it accelerates economic opportunity.
Key Lesson: When people are equipped to build opportunity, they do not stand still—and neither should the systems that support them.
