We’re delighted to announce that Kenyan economist Njuguna Ndung’u has joined us as a Visiting Fellow of Practice under the newly-created Yaw Adjepong-Boateng Memorial Fellowship.
Ndung’u has recently completed two four-year terms (2007-2015) as Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya, as required by law. A strong backer for digital finance innovation in the banking sector, he is credited with paving the way for the mobile banking revolution in Kenya, which has had a dramatic impact on financial inclusion: in 2006 just before ‘M-PESA’ was launched, only 26% of Kenyans had access to financial services (such as money transfers) and by 2013 that had risen to 67%.
During his Fellowship at the Blavatnik School of Government, Ndung’u will share reflections and insights from his career, including in the form of a case study for us to use in MPP teaching. He will also produce policy briefings and hold seminars on a variety of topics in which he has expertise such as financial inclusion, mobile banking and the political economy of deficit financing. The first engagement is the High Level Roundtable "Consolidating Africa's Mobile Banking Revolution" (see below).
Njuguna Ndung’u said:
"I’m excited to bring my experience to the Blavatnik School of Government and work with its outstanding MPP students from all over the world. In the next few months, I will develop a case study of M-Pesa, a mobile phone technological platform for a menu of financial services that has spearheaded a digital financial services revolution in Kenya and now spreading to Africa.
“Digital financial services have changed the financial sector landscape and peoples’ lives in Kenya. At the Blavatnik School, I will take this learning from my country and the leadership role I played as Governor and share it widely to show that financial inclusion as a public policy can support sustainable poverty reduction.”
Ndung’u will be the School’s first Visiting Fellow of Practice to benefit from the new Yaw Adjepong-Boateng Memorial Fellowship, which focuses on the role of Central Banks in Africa and on the continent’s economic development. The Fellowship was created by Blavatnik School supporter and benefactor Kofi Adjepong-Boateng, former vice-chairman of Standard Chartered Bank. He created the award in honour of his late father whose career involved roles in a number of African central banks, including in Ghana and Sierra Leone.
The Fellowship strengthens the ties that the Blavatnik School of Government has been building with the African continent over the last few years. Boasting members of faculty such as renowned economist Sir Paul Collier and former Chief Economist and Vice-President of the African Development Bank Mthuli Ncube, the Blavatnik School of Government is also home to the world-leading Centre for the Study of African Economies (CSAE).
See more information about the High Level Roundtable: Consolidating Africa's Mobile Banking Revolution
