Pay to be seen: How algorithms lock women traders out of Kisii’s digital market

By Elizabeth Angira

At 6:30 am, even before the sun rises over Kisii town, Cynthia Moraa is already awake and busy with her domestic chores.

She has made breakfast for her children, sent them off to school, and swept the compound, ready to start the day. By 9 am, she is arranging second-hand dresses on a wooden rack outside her small shop near Daraja Mbili market.

In between serving her customers, she pulls out her phone, an old Android she bought three years ago, and scrolls through her Facebook page.

“I have posted three new dresses today,” she says, tilting the cracked screen to show bright Ankara prints. “But only 23 people have seen the post.”

Last year, Moraa says, a similar post would reach more than 200 people within a few hours. Customers would comment, “Price?” or send a message, and by evening, she would have sold half her stock.

“Nowadays, if I do not boost, it is like I have not posted,” she says.

Moraa is among a growing number of women entrepreneurs who have moved their businesses online, especially to Facebook, TikTok and other social media platforms, which offer them a way to reach customers beyond their immediate location. But that opportunity comes with new pressures.

What once felt like a relatively open and low-cost digital marketplace is becoming more competitive, with visibility increasingly shaped by automated systems that determine which posts are seen and which are not.

When the Market Moved Online

During the COVID-19 pandemic, curfews and restrictions on public gatherings meant that fewer people came to open-air markets in Kisii. To keep their businesses going, many women began turning to Facebook groups and Marketplace, posting photos of their goods and taking orders through calls and messages instead of relying only on walk-in customers.

Jane Nyaboke, who sells eggs and kienyeji chicken in Suneka, created a Facebook page in 2021 and began posting photos of her products.

“Most of my customers found me through Facebook groups,” she explains. “Someone would share my post, and another person would call.”

At first, the system worked. Nyaboke posted once a day, and orders came in quickly. However, over the past year, she has noticed a change.

“I can post in the morning and by evening only 15 people have seen it,” she says. “Unless I pay.”

Her page insights show the difference clearly. Monthly reach dropped from around 8,000 views in mid-2024 to about 2,500 in January this year.

“In fact, I am posting more, but reaching fewer people,” she says.

Posting regularly costs money. Buying data bundles is expensive, and short videos, favoured by algorithms, use more data than photos. When the network is slow, uploads fail, forcing her to try again and spend more data.

For entrepreneurs like her, maintaining visibility has become a balancing act between investing in stock and paying for reach.

“If I had an extra Sh2,000, I would buy more chicks, not boost posts. But if I do not boost, the chicks will remain unsold,” she says.

How Visibility Works

Facebook’s ranking system is designed to prioritise content that people are likely to interact with. Posts that receive quick reactions, comments, or shares are shown to more people, while those that do not attract early engagement are shown to fewer users. Sellers who respond to messages quickly and post regularly are therefore more likely to reach more customers, because the platform favours active accounts.

Digital marketing consultant Elijah Kamanda says timing matters.

“If people react or reply soon after a post goes up, it is shown to more users. If there is little activity, it is shown to fewer people.”

Buyers also tend to trust posts they see repeatedly, which means content that is shown more often is more likely to attract attention and sales.

Writing posts, replying to messages, and managing responses requires time. For many women entrepreneurs, that first hour after posting often passes while they are busy offline with other responsibilities. Between preparing meals, tending to children, and serving customers, responding immediately is not always possible. Economists describe this as time poverty—the lack of free time due to unpaid domestic and care work.

According to Ruth Mogaka, a gender and economics expert, because women are responsible for most domestic work, they can only engage online later in the day.

“By then, the engagement window has already passed,” she says. “The system rewards consistency, but consistency requires time.”

“Time is the biggest problem. I usually check my phone properly at night, around 9 pm,” Moraa says. “If I had someone to help at home, maybe I would post more.”

Because she cannot respond quickly, her posts receive little early engagement and are shown to fewer people.

This creates a hidden disadvantage. While algorithms do not know someone’s gender, they tend to favour patterns of use that are easier for people with fewer caregiving responsibilities.

“Sometimes I see a message three hours later,” Nyaboke says. “By then, the customer has already bought somewhere else.”

The Visibility Tax

To increase visibility, many traders turn to paid promotion.

Boosting a post can cost as little as Sh500 for a few days of reach, but even that amount is significant for small businesses.

“I boosted with Sh1,000 in December,” says Agnes Kerubo, a baker and caterer. “The reach went up to 12,000, and I received many enquiries.

However, once the promotion ended, her reach dropped again.

“It felt like people were seeing my page because I paid,” she says.

Kerubo’s posts once reached up to 250 people organically, but now reach as few as 30 to 60 unless promoted. In one case, a post seen by 42 people led to only a few enquiries, but after she paid Sh800 to boost it, the items sold out.

Kerubo now spends between Sh2,000 and Sh3,000 a month on advertising during busy periods.

Kamanda cautions against blaming algorithms alone. Sales also depend on competition, pricing, product quality, and seasonal demand.

“Organic reach has declined over time,” he says. “Business pages have to work harder or pay.”

For women traders with limited capital, paying feels less like an option and more like a requirement.

Competing on Presentation

Visibility is also influenced by how posts look. Clear photos, bright lighting, and well-edited videos tend to attract more attention. Some sellers use high-end smartphones or hire social media managers.

Moraa, like many other small businesswomen, does not have these options.

“My camera is not clear,” she says. “Sometimes the dresses look dull.”

She says her posts perform better when she borrows a better phone.

Producing high-quality posts requires time and resources. Kerubo starts baking cakes early in the morning and spends her afternoons delivering orders. Editing content at night is exhausting.

“You see big pages posting five times a day and replying instantly,” she says. “For me, that is impossible.”

Risks and Pressures

Women entrepreneurs also face challenges beyond visibility. Nyaboke says some men send inappropriate messages disguised as customer enquiries.

Sometimes she blocks them. At other times, she ignores them, which can affect how often she responds to messages on her page.

Kerubo has experienced account restrictions that stopped her from posting for two days.

At the same time, unreliable internet connections and the cost of data make it difficult to stay active consistently.

“When bundles are depleted, I stop posting,” Nyaboke says.

Digital platforms have made it easier for small businesses to reach customers beyond their immediate location, but not everyone benefits the same way.

Those with money can pay for ads. Those with time can post often and respond quickly. Those with better phones can produce clearer photos and videos. Many others struggle to be seen.

Because posts that attract more activity are shown to more people, entrepreneurs who can maintain that activity gain more visibility.

Adapting to the System

To reach more people, women entrepreneurs use different strategies. Nyaboke posts in several Facebook groups, Kerubo works with other sellers to promote each other’s posts, and Moraa runs small giveaways to encourage engagement.

Kamanda says clearer explanations of how posts are ranked could help entrepreneurs adjust how they use these platforms. He also points to the cost of data and unreliable internet as barriers.

As dusk settles over Kisii, Moraa finally finds a moment to rest. She scrolls through her notifications.

Two new messages. One confirmed sale.

She checks her latest post, a red dress photographed against a plain white wall.

“Seen by 38 people,” the screen reads.

In the past, visibility depended on attracting customers in a physical location. Today, it depends on systems that reward speed, engagement, and, in many cases, payment.

For women entrepreneurs balancing business and household responsibilities, the challenge is finding a way to remain visible enough to earn from their online presence.

This article was produced as part of the Gender+AI Reporting Fellowship, with support from the Africa Women’s Journalism Project (AWJP) in partnership with DW Akademie. The journalist used AI tools as research aids to review and summarise relevant policy and research documents and extract key statistics. All analysis, editorial decisions and final wording were done by the reporter, in line with the Mt Kenya Times’ editorial standards.