Grace Wangui wakes up every morning to beat the traffic jam as she goes to buy supplies for her greengrocery store in Umoja residential estate. The 30-year old mother of two purchases fresh vegetables from vendors at Wakulima market, Nairobi’s largest wholesale market for fresh produce in the morning. However, Wangui cannot access credit from the banks due to a lack of formal employment or collateral. Instead, she relies on Chinese-owned mobile lending applications in Kenya such as Okash, Opesa and Credit Hela, which she can access through her smartphone. “I typically make an application for a 5,000 shillings (46...