NYONGESA'S STORY
Meet Nyongesa
“Where we live, life is not an island. If they make it, I make it. We learn from each other.”
Nyongesa lives on a tea plantation in Limuru with his 6 children and wife. He has a college degree, and for the past 12 years he has managed 70 tea pickers on behalf of the tea company that owns the plantation. The company pays him a good monthly salary, which he compliments with earnings from livestock and active participation in the financial life of his community. His top priorities are to support his parents and put his kids through college. He spends almost half of his yearly salary on school fees alone. He believes you need a good plan and discipline to be financially healthy. He prides himself on being a role model in the community and believes in his ability to manage his money effectively. He feels respected and admired for his financial savvy within the community.
What events in Nyongesa’s past helped him build these financially healthy behaviors to support his family’s future?
SEGMENT OVERVIEW
Educated Elites,
by the numbers
Like Nyongesa, Educated Elites are mostly higher-income, rural, married men with strong education and high employment rates. Approximately 6.5 million (22% of the Kenyan population) fall in this segment.
Educated Elites
Kenya Average
GENDER (MALE)
70%
47%
AGE (25-34)
46%
31%
SOCIOECONOMIC (SES 4-5)
70%
40%
HIGH INCOME VOLATILITY
39%
55%
They enjoy limited income volatility—the lowest of any segment—but are still planning- minded, which helps them deal with unexpected expenses and emergencies and work towards savings and investment goals.
Financial Behavior & Attitudes
SAVINGS BEHAVIOR & ATTITUDES
The vast majority of Educated Elites have a bank account and are notably frequent savers.
SAVINGS ACCOUNTS
Like most Kenyans, they save more frequently through mobile money than non-mobile formal financial institutions. However, they are below-average savers through informal groups and friends.
BORROWING BEHAVIOR & ATTITUDES
While they borrow frequently, Educated Elites do not see themselves as particularly dependable and as such, have extremely low comfort when it comes to holding debt.
BORROWING ACCOUNTS
They use mobile money and family as their main sources for borrowing, and are much less likely to borrow through formal financial institutions. This is in part due to their fear of losing their collateral.
Educated Elites
Nigeria Average
Explore our complete set of findings:
