Mostly lower to middle income, rural, married men who work as casual laborers or farmers, Confident Builders are active financial managers and natural planners. They prioritize investments and goal-oriented bank savings, but struggle with high income volatility, unpaid bills, and the most frequent emergencies of any segment, so they find financial planning difficult. They are conscientious and open minded and heavy users of mobile wallets.
They do not trust people when it comes to finances, but nevertheless, they often save and borrow with family, friends, and informal groups.
Traditional Believers
Nigeria Average
INCOME
casual workers
28%
N/A
self-employed
19%
N/A
EDUCATION
primary
52%
42%
secondary
41%
44%
PHONE
own smartphone
25%
33%
feature phone
72%
69%
LAND
personally own land
47%
41%
commonly own
42%
45%
GENDER (MALE)
62%
47%
AGE (18-34)
43%
51%
GEOGRAPHY (RURAL)
75%
77%
SOCIOECONOMIC
65%
SES 1-3
FORMAL ACCOUNT
OWNERSHIP
18%
18%
INFORMAL
FINANCIAL USAGE
9%
15%
MOBILE WALLET
OWNERSHIP
8%
5%
TECH USE
(HIGH FREQUENCY)
46%
36%
WHO ARE THEY?
Demographics
“I come from a village where no one has ever
been to university. For me, it just felt normal because
I had put a lot of effort towards it. So it was not a miracle.”
VINCENT
SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS (SES)
Traditional Believers
Nigeria Average
Demographics
Confident Builders consists of mostly lower to middle income, rural, married men working as casual laborers or farmers. They tend to take part in household financial decisions and just over half identify as the primary decision makers. They are slightly older than average for Kenya, and nearly all have completed primary or secondary school.
Social Network
Confident Builders can rely on their robust social networks for financial and in-kind support in emergencies. Over half have recently done so, although two thirds feel it would be impossible or difficult to raise such funds in the future. This suggests that while their connections are strong, their networks have limited capacity to deliver support. This is not surprising given that Confident Builders have faced the most types of emergencies of any Kenyan segment over the past two years.
RESILIENCE: SOURCES OF MONEY IN AN EMERGENCY
Traditional Believers
Nigeria Average
WHAT DO THEY WANT?
Aspirations
Confident Builders aspire to invest and to save in banks at notably high rates, given their low savings deliberateness and infrequent bank account usage. However, despite high income volatility and challenges paying bills, they do not prioritize cash reserves for future expenses. This behavior is somewhat surprising but more common in Kenya. It demonstrates a clear priority for growing income and savings, likely in pursuit of long term investment goals and to build reserves in case of emergency.
HOW DO THEY MANAGE MONEY?
Financial Behavior
“When you have a goal you have to limit some things,
like how much people know what you’re doing.
Otherwise someone would come and try to borrow
something if they knew you had it.”
VINCENT
Financial Behavior Overview
Confident Builders financial health is shaped by their significant struggles managing liquidity. They have high income volatility and face more types of emergencies per year than any other segment. Yet, nearly all save, and they do so at the amongst the highest rates in Kenya. Three quarters save monthly with half actively using multiple savings channels, suggesting they deploy sophisticated reserve building strategies. They borrow somewhat frequently, primarily from family but also using mobile wallets, but may struggle to do so given liquidity challenges and frequent emergencies. They aspire to invest and to save in banks at notably high rates, given their low savings deliberateness and infrequent bank account usage, yet they do so infrequently perhaps due to liquidity challenges. Most Confident Builders identify as effective planners and measure moderate to high conscientiousness and low impulsivity.
BEHAVIORAL INDEX
FINANCIAL ACCESS
Traditional Believers
Nigeria Average
Financial Access
Nearly all Confident Builders own mobile wallets which is not surprising for Kenya. Over half save and over a third borrow digitally. They also save and borrow from family at a relatively high frequency. However, they own and utilize non-mobile formal accounts and informal groups at significantly lower rates, well below the national average.
Financial Priorities
Confident Builders aspire to invest and to save in banks at notably high rates, given their low savings deliberateness and infrequent bank account usage. However, despite high income volatility and challenges paying bills, they do not prioritize cash reserves for future expenses. This behavior is somewhat surprising but more common in Kenya. It demonstrates a clear priority for growing income and savings, likely in pursuit of long term investment goals and to build reserves in case of emergency.
HOW WINDFALL IS PRIORITIZED
Traditional Believers
Nigeria Average
HAS A PLAN TO MANAGE EXPENSES
Traditional Believers
Nigeria Average
Financial Plans
Most Confident Builders identify as effective planners, and slightly more than half report having a plan to manage expenses, though most are not deliberate savers. They rate moderate to high conscientiousness and low spending impulsivity, suggesting that financial difficulties limit their expense planning and goal-oriented savings behaviors. Nonetheless, they manage to save at among the highest rates in Kenya.
Shaping Income and Expenses
Two thirds of Confident Builders struggle with high income volatility and half are not confident in their ability to pay their household bills. They report the second highest number of unpaid expense types among segments and only half have a plan to manage expenses. Their challenges managing liquidity may contribute to frequent financial emergencies, but their access to savings, relatively strong asset base, and strong social support network may help offset the risks.
CONFIDENCE IN ABILITY TO PAY HOUSEHOLD EXPENSES
Traditional Believers
Nigeria Average
SAVINGS CHANNELS OVERALL
Traditional Believers
Nigeria Average
Building Reserves
Nearly all Confident Builders save. Three quarters do so monthly or more and half actively use multiple savings channels. Over two thirds save with their mobile wallets. About half save with family and in the home and just over a third do so with groups and friends. Only a quarter save with banks. Most own land and livestock, and their personal ownership rates for each are highest among Kenyans.
Cultivating Receivables
Confident Builders borrow frequently, but over two thirds rely on only one source, usually family. Those who borrow using mobile wallets, informal groups, and friends tend to so more frequently.
Although most have relied on social sources for emergency financial support in the past two years, they tend to have little confidence in their ability to raise such funds. Driven in part by income volatility and frequent emergencies, their needs likely strain their limited credit channels and reduce their willingness to borrow. Most borrow using only one channel, notably family, from which they appear unable to borrow frequently.
SOURCES OF BORROWING
Traditional Believers
Nigeria Average
TECHNOLOGY USAGE FREQUENCY
Traditional Believers
Nigeria Average
Technology Usage
Most Confident Builders report low rates of unassisted technology use overall, but use their phones frequently. More than four out of five do so three times per day or more. Nearly three quarters of Confident Builders personally own feature phones, but only a quarter own smartphones.
Despite their frequent daily phone use, only slightly more than a third of Confident Builders text daily. They likely use their phones primarily for making and receiving calls. While three quarters never use the internet or social media, those who do tend to do so at least weekly.
HOW DO THEY THINK?
Psychology
"For me, I like being independent. You struggle on your own.
I have learned through experience that you can survive in all conditions."
VINCENT
Self-perception
Three-quarters of Confident Builders have a moderate to strong sense of agency, but, despite high levels of satisfaction with the recent past, very few feel they will be better off in the future. Nevertheless, two thirds have moderate to high self-esteem. Their pessimistic view of the future in part limits their expense planning.
CONFIDENCE IN THE FUTURE
Traditional Believers
Nigeria Average
CONSCIENTIOUSNESS
Traditional Believers
Nigeria Average
Conscientiousness and Openness
Most Confident Builders identify as effective planners and measure moderate to high conscientiousness and low spending impulsivity. This suggests that despite their better inclinations, financial difficulties impede their ability to plan expenses and set savings goals. Nonetheless, they manage to save at among the highest rates in Kenya.
Attitude Towards Savings
Most Confident Builders are not deliberate, goal-oriented savers and feel they don’t earn enough to save. Moreover, a third feel their savings are not safe from the claims of others. This helps explain their preference for saving with mobile wallets. Deposits can be made easily and frequently, in small quantities, and in secret and are more readily available for re-allocation and spending than money saved in other channels. This is appealing to those who prefer highly fungible savings that can be made ad hoc.
SAVINGS DELIBERATENESS
Traditional Believers
Nigeria Average
COMFORT WITH DEBT
Traditional Believers
Nigeria Average
Attitude Towards Debt
Most Confident Builders do not consider themselves dependable and struggle to manage liquidity but are the segment most comfortable with holding debt. Nearly half report high the highest levels of such comfort despite the fact one third struggle to manage their debt effectively. It is likely that they prioritize paying debt to informal groups and banks first, followed by family and mobile money.
Trust in People
Most Confident Builders do not trust people in general, though their trust is the broadest of all segments. They are unlikely to lend to family and friends and would not feel certain of being repaid. Similarly, they have by far the least confidence in their community to provide them with loans or support. This explains, in part, their belief that it would be difficult for them to raise emergency funds. Moreover, they do not view their communities as equal, which may drive their low trust overall.
TRUST IN PEOPLE
Traditional Believers
Nigeria Average
TRUST IN BANKS
Traditional Believers
Nigeria Average
Trust in Banks
Most Confident Builders report moderate to high trust in banks but low respect for authority. However, this moderately-high trust in banks does not translate to relatively higher rates of usage. This suggests that the security of bank deposits, clarity of loan terms, and overall care a bank shows toward its customers are not factors in their lower rates of account ownership and usage. The problem more likely has to do with the value proposition of banking products.
USER PROFILE
Wunmi
"There is nobody I could turn to for help if something unexpected happened. When I need help I go to my pastors. They have the will and also gave me money."
—
Wunmi is a 45-year-old woman who works as a porter in Lagos. She grew up in
Lagos as a Christian and converted when she married a Muslim man at the age of 25. Wunmi completed some high school but considers herself unskilled and works as a porter. She is the sole earner in her household and cares for her three sons and her ailing mother. She has no other family.
USER INSIGHTS
Mental Blocks to Accounting
Wunmi relies heavily on mental accounting to make manage her day to day finances. Given the fact that her income is daily and sporadic and she provides for three households (her own, her mothers, and her husbands), her system of mental tabulation is ineffective.
Wunmi knows she should start keeping financial books and in fact wants to, however she fears putting her financial reality down on paper because it will “make [her] sad” to see her situation laid out clearly, despite the fact that given her circumstances she is managing very effectively and trusts in God.
Value and Equity of Religious Institutions
Wunmi relies exclusively on the community she has built through her church for financial support and advice in times of need. They have come through time and time again—whether in response to her home burning down, her children’s illness, or through the provision of savings services. Her trust in the church community is grounded not only in past positive experiences, but also in the sense of equality between church members and the duty and expectation that they help one another in times of need.
Recovering from Financial Shocks
Wunmi faced back to back financial shocks — first her husband lost his well-paying commercial trucking job, then her home burnt down and with it the family’s assets. She committed to backbreaking work as a porter to provide for the family and has been slowly working for two years to get the family back up on its feet.
Given the family’s needs, the unreliability of her income, and her lack of effective financial planning tools, she has struggled to rebuild, specifically to prioritize and make any savings or investments beyond her children’s formal and vocational education, despite aspiring re-establish a home and start a promising business.