The launch of Vision 2030 marked a significant moment in our journey. It provided a national framework that brought together government, the private sector, and the ordinary mwananchi around a shared aspiration of transforming the country into a globally competitive, middle-income economy.
Nearly two decades later, we can look back and reflect on important milestones achieved under this roadmap. Infrastructure has expanded, digital innovation has transformed everyday life, financial services have become more accessible, and new opportunities have emerged across different sectors. These achievements represent the result of sustained national effort and the commitment of millions of Kenyans.
If Vision 2030 is still being implemented, why are we talking about Vision 2060? and How will we finance this new Vision? are fair questions, but a blueprint developed before our 2010 constitution took root and designed for a centralised state cannot carry us much further.
A lot has changed since then; our population has grown, our economy is more connected to global markets, technology has reshaped business models, and our vibrant youth is demanding clear pathways to prosperity.
With developments such as Artificial Intelligence changing the nature of work, climate change reshaping agriculture, and digital commerce creating entirely new industries, it’s time we had fresh conversations and new solutions.
The President described Vision 2060 as a people-driven national conversation. As we prepare for this public consultation surrounding the new blueprint, perhaps this is where we need to rethink the place of savings in creating a stronger foundation for long-term prosperity that allows mama mboga, businesses, and communities to meaningfully participate.
For too long, many have viewed savings primarily as a personal habit and a matter of household budgeting. Granted, personal responsibility remains essential, but a country’s ability to transform is inseparably linked to its capacity to mobilise and invest its own capital.
Our GDP growth has averaged 4.5 to 5.6 per cent in recent years. Though resilient compared to many regional peers, it consistently falls short of the ambitious 10 per cent annual target. The domestic savings rate also hovers between 12 per cent and 15 per cent of GDP, trailing the sub-Saharan African average of roughly 20 per cent and falling well short of middle-income peers and emerging economies that regularly exceed 30 per cent to 40 per cent. This savings gap directly restricts our capacity to finance internal growth, leaving critical national initiatives reliant on foreign borrowing.
Indeed, every major economic goal requires financing, whether it’s expanding manufacturing, supporting innovation or creating jobs. We therefore need a deeper pool of domestic resources to finance the country we want. The underlying idea may seem simple, but when millions of us save consistently, the individual contributions become a collective resource capable of financing the nation’s growth.
Institutions established to mobilise savings have undoubtedly made a meaningful contribution to our financial inclusion journey by providing safe places for expanded access to formal financial services and promoting a culture of thrift. However, our current blueprint rightly prioritised growing the economy through investment, infrastructure, industrialisation, and expanding financial access.
The priorities laid an important foundation for progress, but experience of the past two decades has also shown that economic growth must be reinforced by stronger domestic capital, and a more deliberate culture of saving.
What it means in practise is that financial inclusion is not enough. We should develop more products that prioritise savings, and also ensure they are accessible and responsive to the needs of every Kenyan, regardless of where they live.
Equally, technology must also remain at the centre of our financial transformation. The ability of technology to expand access, reduce transaction barriers and bring millions of people into the formal financial system has been one of the defining successes of our economic journey.
The next opportunity is to use this same innovation to move from simply enabling transactions to encouraging financial resilience, by making saving easier, more convenient and more inclusive through creating solutions that allow citizens to save consistently, even in small amounts.
So, as consultations continue regarding the next phase of our journey, one key question is how we build the domestic capacity to generate capital from within.
The writer is the Managing Director, Postbank
