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Income Generation

Helping poor people strengthen their livelihoods

As digital technologies expand the reach of financial services and make possible new ways of working, CGAP is exploring how digitally enabled livelihoods can enhance the incomes of poor people. Whether it is a mobile phone or a digital platform, technology increasingly is changing the structure of labor markets and creating entirely new sectors for work, from ride-hailing services to selling hand-made goods via Facebook. We also are examining how emerging technologies are reshaping the financial sector by freeing up data and disaggregating banking services in ways that open new opportunities for providing financial services for these new ways of working and to reach those left out of the formal financial system.

Platform Work

Belly Julians, 26, runs an online business selling artisanal clothing and goods from Kenya. She uses Facebook and the messaging service WhatsApp to reach her clients in Kenya, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe. A digital marketing presence has enabled Julians, who has a graduate degree in communications, to grow her business and earn enough to support herself and her two siblings. But she would like to be able to use an online sales platform that would allow her to better manage her orders and access financial services, save, and expand her business.