Julie Zollmann

Julie Zollmann

Consulting Associate

Julie is a researcher who uses the tools of economics and anthropology to understand how ordinary people use technology and finance to navigate their economic lives. She has particular expertise in sub-Saharan Africa and in translating research into real-life solutions. Julie leads the Kenya Financial Diaries project and is the author of Living on Little, a book based on this work. She is currently completing a PhD at The Fletcher School, where she is studying the impact of job matching platforms on labor markets in Nairobi.

Publications by this author

Waking up to the Covid health threat in Kenya
Livelihoods and Microenterprise |

Waking up to the Covid health threat in Kenya

Originally posted on the FSD Kenya Website, February 4, 2021  “Yes, corona is real,” Beauty, a middle-aged mother in...

By Julie Zollmann
A bridge too far? Paying for school in an economic crisis
Livelihoods and Microenterprise |

A bridge too far? Paying for school in an economic crisis

Originally posted on the FSD Kenya Website, November 18, 2020  Parents across Kenya are receiving ambiguous messages about the...

By Julie Zollmann
Living on Little: Navigating financial scarcity in modern Kenya
Financial Health |

Living on Little: Navigating financial scarcity in modern Kenya

Living on very little money doesn’t just mean that you worry about how to feed your family and pay...

By Julie Zollmann
Finance bends; will it break?
Livelihoods and Microenterprise |

Finance bends; will it break?

Originally posted on the FSD Kenya Website, November 11, 2020  On average, families in the Kenya Financial Diaries started...

By Julie Zollmann
Investors and Indigents: Divergent trajectories of Kenyans in the COVID era
Livelihoods and Microenterprise |

Investors and Indigents: Divergent trajectories of Kenyans in the COVID era

Originally posted on the FSD Kenya Website, November 11, 2020  As we completed a new round of COVID-19 Diaries...

By Julie Zollmann
How are things now? Summary of September/October COVID diaries findings
Livelihoods and Microenterprise |

How are things now? Summary of September/October COVID diaries findings

Originally posted on the FSD Kenya Website, November 11, 2020  Between 7 September and 14 October, our team spoke...

By Julie Zollmann
Debts in distress: how ordinary people are finding the liquidity they need to survive COVID
Livelihoods and Microenterprise |

Debts in distress: how ordinary people are finding the liquidity they need to survive COVID

Originally posted on the FSD Kenya Website, September 6, 2020  “Things are getting bad,” Vanessa told us. When we...

By Julie Zollmann
Imagining Post-COVID recovery
Livelihoods and Microenterprise |

Imagining Post-COVID recovery

Originally posted on the FSD Kenya Website, July 10, 2020  How Financial Diaries families imagine reconstructing their income streams...

By Julie Zollmann
Corona Case Studies: Running out of options
Livelihoods and Microenterprise |

Corona Case Studies: Running out of options

Originally posted on the FSD Kenya Website, June 12, 2020  After three months of Covid-19 restrictions, Jennifer’s economic options...

By Julie Zollmann
Corona Case Studies: ‘Waiting for nothing’
Livelihoods and Microenterprise |

Corona Case Studies: ‘Waiting for nothing’

Originally posted on the FSD Kenya Website, June 12, 2020  Agnes, 45, lives in rural Makueni with her children...

By Julie Zollmann
Back to an empty market
Livelihoods and Microenterprise |

Back to an empty market

Originally posted on the FSD Kenya Website, June 10, 2020  Desperate for income, many Diaries respondents have gone back...

By Julie Zollmann
Corona Case Studies: Lost without church
Livelihoods and Microenterprise |

Corona Case Studies: Lost without church

Originally posted on the FSD Kenya Website, April 30, 2020  Vera (45) lives in an informal settlement in Mombasa....

By Julie Zollmann
If the coronavirus doesn’t kill you…
Livelihoods and Microenterprise |

If the coronavirus doesn’t kill you…

Originally posted on the FSD Kenya Website, April 21, 2020  Kenyans’ reflections on security in the time of Covid-19...

By Julie Zollmann
“Our love has grown more”
Livelihoods and Microenterprise |

“Our love has grown more”

Originally posted on the FSD Kenya Website, April 21, 2020  Coronavirus disruptions are giving some Kenyan women a reprieve...

By Julie Zollmann
Corona Case Studies: Kibarua crunch
Livelihoods and Microenterprise |

Corona Case Studies: Kibarua crunch

Originally posted on the FSD Kenya Website, April 14, 2020 William, 39, hunts for earning options in Mombasa William...

By Julie Zollmann
Corona Case Studies: Should I stay, or should I go?
Livelihoods and Microenterprise |

Corona Case Studies: Should I stay, or should I go?

Originally posted on the FSD Kenya Website, April 14, 2020 Considering urban to rural migration as urban incomes dwindle...

By Julie Zollmann
Shamba bora (fertile farmland), Shamba la mawe (rocky farmland)
Livelihoods and Microenterprise |

Shamba bora (fertile farmland), Shamba la mawe (rocky farmland)

Originally posted on the FSD Kenya Website, April 14, 2020  Urban and rural areas are coping with the coronavirus...

By Julie Zollmann
Corona Case Studies: Mountains Beyond Mountains
Livelihoods and Microenterprise |

Corona Case Studies: Mountains Beyond Mountains

Originally posted on the FSD Kenya Website, April 9, 2020 Kenyan families are trying to cope with perpetual strain...

By Julie Zollmann
Dilemmas of distancing
Livelihoods and Microenterprise |

Dilemmas of distancing

Originally posted on the FSD Kenya Website, April 9, 2020 Barriers to coronavirus prevention behaviour change in Kenya Like...

By Julie Zollmann
The costs of coping with Coronavirus
Livelihoods and Microenterprise |

The costs of coping with Coronavirus

Originally posted on the FSD Kenya Website, April 8, 2020 Not only are Kenyans losing their incomes right now,...

By Julie Zollmann
Corona Case Studies: “If I had food, I would close the shop”
Livelihoods and Microenterprise |

Corona Case Studies: “If I had food, I would close the shop”

Originally posted on the FSD Kenya Website, April 7, 2020 Millicent, 44, and Amos, 45, live in Eldoret with...

By Julie Zollmann
The ultimate stress test for financial resilience
Livelihoods and Microenterprise |

The ultimate stress test for financial resilience

Originally posted on the FSD Kenya Website, April 7, 2020 How coronavirus adaptations are straining Kenyans’ most robust financial...

By Julie Zollmann
Corona Case Studies: Loss of Income, Loss of Pride
Livelihoods and Microenterprise |

Corona Case Studies: Loss of Income, Loss of Pride

Originally posted on the FSD Kenya Website, April 6, 2020 Stephen and Jessica live in their rural home in...

By Julie Zollmann
When hustling fails: The impact of coronavirus mitigation efforts on ordinary people’s livelihoods
Livelihoods and Microenterprise |

When hustling fails: The impact of coronavirus mitigation efforts on ordinary people’s livelihoods

Originally posted on the FSD Kenya Website, April 6, 2020 Unlike many Kenyans, Esther in rural Makueni is not...

By Julie Zollmann
What Happens on Uber Should Stay on Uber
Livelihoods and Microenterprise |

What Happens on Uber Should Stay on Uber

Are Reputational Ratings Favorable for Drivers? As platform-mediated livelihoods grow around the world, many are contemplating how to ensure...

By Julie Zollmann
Uber and Taxify in Africa: Good Work or a Race to the Bottom?
Livelihoods and Microenterprise |

Uber and Taxify in Africa: Good Work or a Race to the Bottom?

By Julie Zollmann
Battery Hacking

Battery Hacking

“Necessity is the mother of invention”   Far from — and sometimes right under — inaccessible power lines throughout...

By Julie Zollmann
Fixing Finance for Women
Digital Financial Services |

Fixing Finance for Women

Responsibilities and problems around money in most societies are gendered A recent study from Harvard Sociologist Alexandra Achen Killewald...

By Julie Zollmann