Keeping track of your earnings and expenditures can be quite a challenge—for everyone, everywhere. In Kenya, however, this is an even bigger challenge than it is in Europe. Why is that?
In the Netherlands, most payments are made digitally. This means that these transactions are always stored somewhere. In a few clicks we can get an automated overview of all our financial transactions of the past period. Looking at your bank statement once a month is thus already very informative. For payments done in cash, we can look at the receipts.
In Kenya, most payments are made with cash, or with a phone (using MPESA). Most shops will not give you a receipt. Fruits and vegetables, for example, are comfortably bought on the side of the road from small, privately run booths. The situation is similar for most products.
Actually keeping track of your finances thus requires an active investment, making it quite a challenge!