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