Get a degree, get a job,
00:11
No matter where you're from,
00:15
it's like page one
of the universal parenting handbook.
00:16
And if you grew up
with parents anything like mine,
00:21
you knew it was one of those,
you know, just casual,
00:24
non-negotiable suggestions
that they had for you.
00:26
But no matter what our parents might say,
it's a path that for so many,
00:30
just doesn't hold up.
00:34
Not here in Kenya, not across the world.
00:36
Every month, more than a million
young people enter the workforce
00:40
across Sub-Saharan Africa.
00:44
Fewer than one in four
will get access to a formal job.
00:46
And at first glance,
it looks a lot like a crisis, right?
00:51
Like this jobless generation.
00:54
Honestly, I used to see it that way too.
00:56
I'm a third generation East African.
01:00
I've always believed in the power
of business and technology
01:02
to fuel development.
01:05
For the longest time,
I thought that meant one thing:
01:07
helping to create formal jobs.
01:10
But after more than a decade of working
with young people here in Kenya,
01:12
I started to see something
very different, right?
01:16
People like Kelvin running his cyber cafe.
01:19
Or Melissa, with her hair salon.
01:24
Or Mercy, with her auto repair shop.
01:28
And the thing is, they are not outliers.
01:32
They are part of this powerful engine.
01:35
Millions of young people contributing
over 540 million dollars a month
01:38
into Kenya's economy.
01:43
The informal economy is an engine
that is already turning.
01:45
It’s how 85 percent of people
across Sub-Saharan Africa
01:48
and 60 percent of the global
workforce earn an income.
01:53
So a few years ago,
a couple of colleagues and I
01:56
decided to take a step back,
ask ourselves a different question,
01:59
not, how do we pull people out
of the informal economy,
02:02
but what if we invested in it
02:05
and helped it grow
more efficiently and at scale.
02:07
And that’s what led us
to build MESH in 2021.
02:11
It's this platform to help
this hustle economy grow.
02:15
It's a professional
social network where today,
02:18
more than 800,000 micro entrepreneurs
02:21
come to connect and learn and trade
02:24
and access a marketplace
of opportunities each month.
02:29
And the thing is, as we built MESH,
02:33
we started to see these patterns
and behaviors start to emerge
02:35
that often challenged some
of our long-held assumptions,
02:39
but also revealed some of the levers
02:42
that really drive growth
in the informal economy.
02:44
And so I wanted to take this opportunity
to share three of our big lessons
02:47
because if we're serious
about building a sustainable future,
02:52
we can't ignore the billions
navigating the informal sector.
02:55
So our first, and honestly,
possibly coolest,
02:59
lesson that we've learned
03:02
is that the most powerful lever
for income growth in the informal economy
03:03
See, young people have been told
an incredibly unhelpful story
03:10
for most of their life:
03:14
That success means getting a formal job.
03:16
And when that path doesn't open up,
it can be paralyzing.
03:19
But when identity shifts, behavior shifts.
03:23
So when they stop seeing
themselves as unemployed or jobless
03:27
and actually as entrepreneurs,
03:32
things change and pretty quickly.
03:35
Brian studied to be a teacher,
03:40
but he spent years bouncing between gigs,
03:42
and he will be the first to tell you
03:45
he never saw himself
as someone who could run a business.
03:47
One day he was chatting with a connection
he made on the platform,
03:50
a woman named Eunice.
03:54
At some point she said,
"Honestly, Brian, just why not business?"
03:55
Something eventually just clicked for him.
03:59
"I started admiring her business.
04:02
I thought maybe I could do that too."
04:04
He started small,
selling fruit, then donuts,
04:08
then he moved into charcoal.
04:11
Today, Brian is running
three small businesses
04:12
and he's saving up
for his own permanent stall.
04:15
And Brian wasn't alone.
04:18
When we started
measuring this more closely,
04:21
by just how powerful this shift
in identity could actually be.
04:24
Seventy-eight percent of our
MESH members were telling us
04:28
that they had either started
a brand new business,
04:30
or improved by adding to an existing one,
04:33
often within just a couple of months
of signing up for the platform.
04:35
And amongst that group,
04:39
the number earning more than national
minimum wage more than doubled.
04:40
So when I see myself differently,
I act differently.
04:44
And when that happens amongst our peers,
that change can often be contagious.
04:48
So our second big lesson
04:53
was really about the importance
of designing for the real world.
04:55
And the best example of that that I have
is how we approach skills development.
05:00
So most programs aimed
at the informal economy
05:04
assume that growth
looks a lot like a ladder, right?
05:07
You, you know, study hard,
05:09
get a certificate,
use that to get the job,
05:12
to build credentials,
to move up step by step.
05:15
And so the learning systems
are all designed to match this, right?
05:19
You know, longer courses,
05:22
modules, quizzes,
formal learning pathways.
05:24
That's how we approached it too.
05:27
The problem is, that's not how growth
really happens in the informal economy.
05:30
Growth here is often entirely non-linear.
05:35
It's characterized
by rapidly shifting needs
05:38
or new opportunities
that you need to jump on.
05:42
It looks a lot less like a ladder,
05:45
and it looks a lot more like a jungle gym.
05:49
My favorite example of this is Caroline.
05:52
Caroline graduated with a degree
in analytical chemistry,
05:56
but she could not find a job.
06:00
She started a business selling clothes,
saved up some money,
06:02
and fashion wasn't her thing.
06:06
But she spotted a new opportunity
that she really loved, hair.
06:08
And so she invested
in a one-month wig making class
06:13
and she just ran with it.
06:16
She built a business.
06:18
She picked up pricing tips
from other MESHers.
06:20
She learned digital marketing skills
to build and grow her online sales.
06:24
When she needed to,
she picked up basic bookkeeping
06:28
to help her manage her cash flow.
06:30
Today, Caroline's
a full-time entrepreneur,
06:33
but she didn't climb a ladder.
06:35
She moved across this jungle gym,
06:37
one business and one pivot at a time.
06:39
And all along the way,
06:43
she invested in the skills she needed
to keep her growing.
06:44
And we saw this happening
all across the platform.
06:48
Young people were not engaging
with our formal learning tools,
06:51
but their incomes were growing.
06:54
So 66 percent of our MESHers tell us
that they have learned a new skill,
06:56
which has improved
their business on the platform,
07:01
but not from a course,
07:04
Another micro entrepreneur,
just two steps ahead,
07:07
just sharing what they'd figured out.
07:10
And the learning itself,
it's so practical, it's so immediate.
07:12
It's like a 90-second video
on how to price your sandals,
07:16
or a group chat on how
to save water in your agribusiness.
07:22
One of our favorites, "Why bad loans
are a lot like bad boyfriends
07:26
and how to spot the red flags."
07:31
It is learning that just
mirrors real life.
07:35
So our third lesson is a pretty
fundamental one.
07:39
In the informal economy,
07:45
there are no contracts
or insurance policies
07:46
or formal protections.
07:48
If a deal goes wrong, it's on you.
07:50
Alfine trained to be a photographer.
07:55
She saved up painstakingly
to get her first camera.
07:56
And one day a client reached out.
08:00
They paid a deposit, it seemed legitimate.
08:01
She showed up for the shoot,
08:04
and within minutes, her gear was stolen.
08:06
It set her back, she was set up,
and she had to start all over again.
08:09
And this is why a lot
of micro entrepreneurs,
08:13
they choose to play it safe.
08:16
They stick to trusted circles.
08:18
And when we asked our MESH members,
08:21
"How do you know
who you can actually trust?"
08:23
The word that we hear
most often is "serious."
08:26
"I look for serious people."
08:29
"I knew he was a serious guy."
08:31
It's shorthand, right?
08:34
For someone reliable,
for someone who shows up.
08:35
But we wanted to understand
that a little bit better.
08:39
So we ran an experiment.
08:41
It was really simple.
08:43
We brought 30 micro
entrepreneurs into a room.
08:44
No profiles, no CVs.
08:46
Everyone got a blank poster and a marker
08:49
just to describe who they were
in their own words.
08:52
And then everyone got five post-it notes
08:55
to put on the profiles of the individuals
that they would most like to work with,
08:58
and to tell us why.
09:03
the most sought-after profiles
09:06
weren't the ones
with the highest education
09:08
or the most established businesses.
09:10
They were the ones who wrote
about helping others,
09:12
mentoring peers,
supporting their communities,
09:15
the ones with social capital.
09:18
Because in the informal sector,
09:21
trust and reliability
aren't about what you have,
09:23
they're about what you
contribute, seriously.
09:26
And that kind of social capital
09:30
is what makes the informal
sector function, right?
09:32
It's how you know who you can work with,
09:34
it isn't really bankable
beyond your immediate circle,
09:40
and unfortunately,
least of all at the bank itself.
09:45
But that is a massive opportunity.
09:49
Because when young people
are able to build visible,
09:51
trusted identities online
09:54
that showcase all the ways
that they show up,
09:57
it unlocks a whole new world
of peer-to-peer trade.
10:00
And a massive opportunity
for the formal world, right?
10:03
So for lenders, for corporates,
10:05
for organizations that are looking
to assess trustworthiness,
10:08
if we lean into these models,
10:12
all of a sudden we can begin
to lend with more confidence,
10:14
or offer gigs in ways that just
have not been possible before.
10:18
So in the informal economy,
10:23
what we're seeing is that this
is absolutely working, right?
10:25
Today, when we do surveys,
10:28
markets are expanding on MESH.
10:31
Forty-nine percent of our audience
10:32
are telling us that they have now
begun to work with
10:34
and earn from other MESH members
on the platform.
10:38
And what we're seeing
isn't just a way to facilitate trade
10:41
or establish trust in the informal sector.
10:44
It's a glimpse into how
more resilient economies could work.
10:46
Because when we think about a world
facing climate constraints
10:50
or rising inequalities,
10:53
economies that reward
this type of contribution,
10:55
rather than just consumption
10:57
might be one of the most
sustainable shifts
10:59
that we can actually make.
11:01
Look, honestly, we've learned
a ton over the last five years.
11:03
The most important lesson is this.
11:06
The informal economy
is not a problem to be solved.
11:08
It is this phenomenally
powerful engine to be supported.
11:12
And I'm not saying jobs don't matter.
11:17
Of course they do, right?
11:19
But the road to those jobs
11:21
and to broader economic growth
11:23
might just run through
the informal economy first.
11:25
And what we’re seeing goes beyond MESH.
11:29
So from digital lenders
11:31
experimenting with social
and behavioral data,
11:32
to renewable-energy companies
11:36
leveraging community distribution models
to expand their reach and sales.
11:38
When we design for the informal economy,
11:43
we unlock massive new possibilities.
11:45
And whether that is growing new markets
11:48
or expanding livelihoods,
11:51
or even accelerating climate action,
11:52
this generation and the economy
that they power are central to all of it.
11:55
So the solutions that we build
have to work for them here and now.
12:01
And so the real opportunity here
isn't to fix the informal economy.
12:05