The rapid adoption of mobile money transfer (MMT) in East Africa, and Kenya in particular, is facilitating a nexus of inter-personal financial transfers which has hitherto been the least visible dimension of informal finance. At the same time, the success of capturing these flows into a formal service has raised significant enthusiasm that mobile money transactions represent an effective route to inclusion in the formal financial sector. This paper examines this claim through an in-depth qualitative and ethnolinguistic investigation of the everyday concepts and practices of resource exchange. It identifies a focus on relationships rather than resources as at the centre of these informal practices. This suggests a gap between these exchange practices and those of the resource-focussed formal sector. These contrasting perspectives suggest that there is much scope for misunderstanding in developing routes to financial inclusion making it particularly important to appreciate emic perspectives.
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