NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, September 28, 2015

Barclays has opened the Barclays Kenya Product Lab in Nairobi, an agile product development program that will give local developers access to a pool of resources to come up with solutions that could potentially change the future of the financial industry.

The lab is the first of several initiatives that Barclays will be rolling out in Kenya as part of its global innovation drive focused on accelerating the development and adoption of new technologies in the financial industry. Through its global innovation drive launched in July, dubbed rise, Barclays is keen on investing in strategic partnerships with renowned technology leaders to develop disruptive fintech solutions that could revolutionise its interaction with customers.

“Our innovation initiatives in Africa are a hugely important part of our aim to create a network of strong innovators across the globe – connecting and co-creating together to create the future of financial services,” says Lubaina Manji, Director of Barclays Open Innovation Programme.

The product lab is a partnership between Barclays Kenya, Moringa School, East Africa’s top coding school, and global start-up investment firm, Nest. Moringa School will offer training on design thinking and user research while Nest will manage the program and provide mentorship.

“The launch of this program attests to our commitment as a company to invest in youth-focused initiatives that accelerate access to new innovations in the industry,” Barclays Kenya Marketing and Corporate Relations Director Caroline Ndung’u said.