This diaries research was part of an action research initiative that received support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and looked at female traders in open-air markets and cross-border trades in Kenya. The project sought to diagnose the digital financial service needs of women-owned market-based and cross-border trading MSEs and then facilitate DFS supplies to meet these needs. Phase 1 of the research tracked 100 diarists for three weeks. Phase 2 tracked 30 diarists for one year. We have included a small sample of men as well for comparison purposes. Insights from this research will feed into our work with two partner financial service providers to develop gender-centric financial products.
