Centre Director, Professor Xiaolan Fu has recently published a journal article in Innovation and Development alongside Ann Kingiri from the African Centre for Technology Studies in Kenya.

The article explores the factors behind the growth of the Kenyan mobile money transfer innovation, M-Pesa. It uses this as a case to understand what influences the diffusion and adoption of digital finance innovations in emerging markets. The findings of the study conclude that although the initial concept for M-Pesa originated exogenously from a partnership between the UK-based Vodaphone and the Kenyan telecoms firm, Safaricom, in 2007. It  had to undergo numerous local adaptations in response to consumers’ preferences. This was also accompanied by dynamic process innovation from the interaction of different stakeholders’ thereby generating significant learning and local capabilities.

The article can be read here