Watu, a leading provider of financial services for informal economy workers, announced a renewed focus on accelerating economic opportunity for its customers, signaling a shift from simple access to sustainable income growth. Over the past decade, the company has reached over 5 million users across eight African countries and two in Latin America, helping workers turn essential assets into immediate earning potential.
The initiative emphasizes moving beyond traditional credit models. Instead of offering loans alone, Watu equips customers with income-generating tools, such as motorcycles and smartphones, which underpin urban mobility, commerce, and service delivery. By facilitating asset ownership, the company helps informal economy workers secure stable incomes, support their families, and participate more fully in the digital economy.
Founded in Mombasa ten years ago, Watu began with table banking and gradually expanded into mobility financing and device financing, adapting its strategy based on observed customer needs. The company’s experience demonstrates that access to the right tools, not just credit, can provide rapid, tangible improvements in earnings. Today, smartphones and motorcycles are central to its model, enabling users to connect, transact, and grow their businesses.
Looking ahead, Watu aims to accelerate upward mobility for its customers, helping them leverage initial assets into further opportunities, expand businesses, and build resilience against economic shocks. The company is also responding to wider economic shifts, including the electrification of urban transport, increasing digital payments, and the formalization of informal work through technology and digital identity systems.
By equipping workers with the tools to earn, plan, and grow, the company positions itself as a catalyst for economic acceleration, demonstrating the potential of inclusive finance to transform lives and strengthen local economies
