Losing a job in Kenya is no longer a matter of “why” or “how” but “when”. With each passing day, thousands of employees are getting laid off. It is like companies are on a “firing” spree as the tough business environment continues to bite.
In just three months, more than 4,500 Kenyans have been fired from their jobs by companies that have either closed shop in Kenya or cutting down on costs. The most affected were from the betting companies (SportPesa and Betin), East African Portland Cement, James Finlays (a flower company) among 10 others.)
In the banking sector, however, things are different. Technology is slowly rendering bank tellers useless and it is a force that cannot be stopped. It is not that banks are “firing tellers” but tellers are literally finding themselves with nothing to do “naturally
“With Fintech and Mobile Banking rising in Kenya, bank tellers will continue to lose their jobs,” said Mr. Francis Waithaka, the CEO of Digital4Africa.
Commercial banks in Kenya are increasingly moving services that were traditionally offered by tellers to mobile. For banks such as Equity Bank and Kenya Commercial Bank, mobile banking now accounts for most of their operations.
Currently, any bank customer with a mobile phone, either through an app or USSD can be able to: deposit cash to their accounts, withdraw cash from their accounts, and check the balance of their accounts pay for goods and services among others.
“Why should I go to queue in a banking hall while I can do almost all transactions from my phone when I want?” Said Mr. Waithaka.
According to Mr. Waithaka, AI is the most disruptive technology in the banking sector in Kenya and there is no way “employees are going to hide from it.”
Nowadays, Kenyans no longer go to the banking halls to apply for loans. They get everything via mobile phones through mobile loan apps.
Nearly 17 million digital loans have been disbursed as Kenyans increasing turn to their mobile phones to access credit.
Microsave Consulting through a recent survey found out that across Kenya, 16.4 million loans have been disbursed digitally since the launch of the first digital credit offering seven years ago.
Between 2016 and 2018, 86 percent of the loans that Kenyans took were digital in nature, reflecting the increasing popularity and penetration of digital lending as compared to traditional lending.