A recent social media clip that went viral in Kenya captures a moment that, while brief, speaks volumes about the structural inequalities that persist in our society.
In the video, a lawmaker is seen purchasing bananas from a roadside woman vendor. After the transaction, he asks for her mobile number to pay. Moments later, the MP expresses confusion—he tells her that the name on the mobile money account is not hers. She replies that although she bought the phone, it is registered in her husband’s name.
What might seem like a simple, affectionate gesture is a window into a deeper problem. In 2025, a woman can buy a phone with her money and still feel compelled to hand over ownership because culturally, it’s expected—or emotionally, it’s rewarding. However, this dynamic is not just personal or traditional, it is economic and systemic.
This scenario plays out across Kenya. Despite being the backbone of the agricultural labour force, women and youth often cannot access credit or financial services because they lack assets that prove ownership.
When they approach financial institutions, they are asked for logbooks, title deeds, or mobile accounts registered in their names. They often don’t possess these things—not due to lack of ambition or capability, but because the system was never designed with them in mind.
The contradiction is stark. Women are responsible for nearly 70 percent of agricultural labour. Youth are the largest demographic and the most entrepreneurial.
They grow the food, tend the land, and innovate on the frontlines of sustainability. Yet they don’t own the land, and they don’t control the capital. So when banks and funds ask for collateral, many people powering our food system are left out in the cold.
We cannot have a serious conversation about food security in Kenya without tackling the financial exclusion that sidelines women and the youth. Agricultural credit schemes and climate financing need to be redesigned around the real lives and realities of those they are meant to serve.
Women groups must be recognised as credible and bankable collectives. Youth-led enterprises should be supported with flexible lending models, technical support, and mobile-based platforms that don’t assume access to smartphones, data bundles, or bank accounts.
Moreover, there’s an urgent need to scale up financial literacy, digital access, and asset registration in rural areas—especially in communities where affectionate gestures like ‘dear love’ holding the phone translate into legal and economic invisibility for women doing the work.
This transformation cannot happen in silos. It requires coordinated action between the Gender, Agriculture and Fiance ministries.
Together, these institutions must dismantle the outdated systems and cultural blind spots that block women and youth from fully participating in the agricultural economy.
Finance is not just about shillings and cents. It’s about recognition, agency, and rewriting the rules so that when someone buys a phone or a plot of land, they don’t give it away. They own it, leverage it, and use it to shape a food-secure Kenya.
The writer is a climate action enthusiast and a communications specialist at Windward Communications Consultancy
