Across sub-Saharan Africa, the World Bank estimates that more than 80% of workers find their livelihoods in the informal sector . In Kenya, it’s estimated that the informal sector accounts for 82% of the working population , while in Tanzania, it is thought to be even higher.
This article was contributed to TechCabal by Priya Sippy. Priya is a freelance journalist and communications specialist covering news from East Africa. Formerly based in Dar es Salaam for a number of years, she is currently based in London. Her work has featured in Quartz, Rest of World, The Continent, New African Magazine and TRT. Digital platforms are disrupting East Africa’s traditional gig industries
Rehema Zongo, 36, stirs a large pot of rice outside her small shop on Tunisia Road in Kinondoni, Dar es Salaam. Inside her kitchen, two other women chop spinach to make mchicha, a popular side dish in Tanzania, while steam rises from saucepans containing boiling beans, which will be used later to make maharage.
It’s 11.00 a.m. in Dar es Salaam and the sun beats down on the bustling streets. Rehema is ready for a busy afternoon, preparing dishes for the lunch-hour rush.
A few months earlier, Rehema would have waited for customers to arrive and take their orders. Today, she packages the food and hands it to three boda boda drivers, who will deliver it to nearby offices. During the height of the pandemic, Rehema joined one of Tanzania’s fastest-growing food delivery apps, Food Sasa , which delivers local street food to Dar es Salaam’s workers.
Women like Rehema—fondly known as “Mama Ntilie”, a name for female food vendors in Tanzania—were onced threatened by the rise of e-commerce as food delivery apps typically partnered with high-end established restaurants. But now the Mama Ntilies of East Africa are becoming part of the new digital informal economy, and cashing in on it too. Before joining Food Sasa, Rehema was selling around 26 plates a day. She now sells 55 on average, doubling her salary.
Across East Africa, digital platforms like Food Sasa are reimagining the region’s informal economy, offering traditional gig industries a bridge to formal employment. East Africa has seen a proliferation of digital platforms popping up, which are able to employ large numbers of informal actors in their supply chain or service delivery.
Research shows that East Africa is leading the continent on digital platforms, recording 58% year-on-year growth in […]
