Mastercard paper addresses gig work and economic growth in East Africa

Mastercard has published a white paper titled ‘The Gig Economy in East Africa: A Gateway to the Financial Mainstream’ where it explores the opportunities such as better livelihood, a higher rate of employment and greater access to the market of online gig work in East Africa. The study also tackles the issues of financial inclusion and concludes that digital technologies can serve as ‘vehicles of inclusion and development’ in East Africa. 

At present, the online gig economy only represents a fraction of the overall gig economy. In Kenya, for instance, online activities are estimated at USD 109 million whereas offline gig economy accounts for USD 19.6 billion.