Mary has over 18 years of research and consulting experience contributing insights on securing adequate housing and social security in rapidly urbanizing Sub-Saharan Africa. Her focus is on understanding the assets and strategies of urban poor households, often outside the formally recognized financial solutions.

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Mary currently works with UN Habitat contributing to the flagship World Cities Report and SDGs. Her interest is in the intersection of urbanization and socioeconomic wellbeing in diverse urban contexts.

 

She also served on the advisory board of Slum Dwellers International (SDI) – Kenya, collaborating to redefine finance as an enabler of opportunities, choices and justice for the urban poor.​

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Mary’s academic background is mathematics and finance. She holds a BSc Actuarial Science from the University of Nairobi and an MSc in Mathematical Finance from the University of Manchester. Her PhD working title reflects the intersections of her experiences in finance, social security and urbanization: “Making it out of slums”: An economic ethnography on Assets, Adaptive Strategies and Socio-Economic Transformation of Nairobi’s Precariat.