Building Opportunity at Scale: How Access to Assets Is Reshaping Emerging Economies

Ten years ago in Mombasa, our journey began with a simple yet ambitious question: What would happen if more people working in the informal economy had access to the tools they needed to earn a stable income? A decade later, the answer is clear. The impact goes far beyond individual livelihoods — it drives broader economic transformation.

Today, millions of people rely on motorcycles, tuk-tuks, and smartphones to participate in rapidly expanding digital and service economies. These tools move people and goods, enable payments and logistics, and connect entrepreneurs to customers, suppliers, and opportunity. Yet for many years, access to such assets was restricted by rigid, formal credit requirements that excluded the vast majority of working people.

Over the past decade, Watu has grown its footprint to eight African countries and two in Latin America, supporting more than five million customers whose livelihoods sustain urban mobility and economic activity. Our close engagement with this sector has revealed a fundamental truth: in these markets, entrepreneurship is rarely a choice. It is a necessity — how families pay school fees, build homes, and support their communities. This work is not defined by risk-taking, but by resilience.

The path has not been linear. Our transition from table banking to mobility financing, and later to digital connectivity, emerged not from a rigid strategy but from continuous learning. Customers showed us that ownership of an income-generating asset — particularly a motorcycle — delivers faster and more meaningful income gains than small cash loans. As smartphones became essential infrastructure rather than discretionary purchases, we expanded into device financing. Across both mobility and connectivity, the insight remains constant: access to the right tools enables people to earn, plan, and progress.

Growth at scale has also sharpened our understanding of responsibility. Financial inclusion only matters when its outcomes are durable and positive. Economic shocks, income volatility, and regulatory shifts have tested both our customers and our model, prompting us to strengthen affordability assessments, improve transparency around obligations and risk, and better support customers through periods of hardship. Responsible growth requires discipline — and the willingness to learn as quickly as we expand.

At the same time, the broader economic landscape is evolving. Across Africa and other emerging markets, three major transitions are reshaping how people work and move.

First, transportation is electrifying. Electric two- and three-wheelers offer lower operating costs, more predictable earnings, and environmental benefits, provided the right infrastructure and financing models are in place.

Second, payments are rapidly digitising. Mobile money ecosystems are doing more than facilitating transactions — they are creating economic visibility and unlocking new credit pathways for people previously excluded from formal finance.

Third, informal work is becoming more structured. Through digital platforms, technology, and identity systems, workers who were once invisible to financial institutions are becoming recognised — and financeable.

Together, these shifts signal a fundamental transformation in economic participation. But they also present a challenge: financial, regulatory, and technological systems must evolve at the same pace as the people who depend on them.

As we look to our next decade, the focus must move beyond access toward upward mobility. A motorcycle or smartphone is no longer the end point of inclusion — it is the beginning. The questions we now ask are more ambitious: How do customers move from their first asset to their second, and toward business expansion? How can data help anticipate income shocks before they happen? How do we work alongside regulators, manufacturers, and development partners to ensure emerging technologies like electric mobility deliver real economic value?

These are not theoretical considerations. They define the next phase of financial inclusion — one where opportunity is paired with long-term capability, and short-term gains translate into sustainable progress.

Across every market we serve, we encounter people who are determined, resourceful, and committed to improving their lives and their communities. Their efforts create jobs, deliver essential services, and keep cities moving. The question is no longer whether they can build the future. It is whether the systems around them are ready to support their momentum.

Watu’s role is to help ensure that they are. As we enter our second decade, our commitment is to scale responsibly, innovate boldly, and remain deeply connected to the realities of the entrepreneurs who power our economies. Their success is not simply proof of inclusion — it is proof of acceleration.

If one lesson stands above all others, it is this: when hardworking people are given the tools to build opportunity, they do not stand still. Neither should we.