The World Works on WhatsApp: From Nairobi to Islamabad, how WhatsApp is transforming livelihoods
Host: Caribou
Drawing from new research by Caribou and the Gates Foundation, this session explores how WhatsApp has become the default livelihood platform for many low-income men and women across Nigeria, Kenya, India and Pakistan. This is an interactive, hands-on session designed for collaborative analysis and sense-making.
Caribou’s research revealed that nearly 90 million women, and many millions more men across these four countries, rely on WhatsApp for commerce. That means around 1 in 5 people use it to sell their goods, coordinate suppliers, marketing products, and even learn new skills. No other digital platform reaches this scale for low-income entrepreneurs. WhatsApp has become a critical economic infrastructure, despite never being designed for work.
But what does it mean when a simple message app becomes a core livelihood infrastructure?
The research reveals a more complex reality beneath the scale. Many people still do not use WhatsApp for livelihoods because they do not see its value, or because data and device costs remain barriers. Adoption of WhatsApp Business tools remains low. At the same time, harassment and fraud are increasing, even as digital groups have become vital “safe spaces” for women entrepreneurs. New chatbots and AI-driven tools are entering the ecosystem, creating new opportunities for efficiency and growth while also raising new questions around trust, agency, and inclusion.
If WhatsApp is to truly work for everyone, practitioners need to understand these dynamics as a system, not a tool.
This session will explore what it would take to design interventions, policies and partnerships that build on where and how entrepreneurs already operate.
Groups compare maps, test interpretations, and translate insights into practical questions for programme design, policy, and future research. The format is fast-paced, collaborative, and intentionally accessible, enabling deep engagement with complex evidence in a short time.
Website | LinkedIn | YouTube | Newsletter
This venue has a capacity of 60.