The CEO ofKenya’s Private Sector Alliance speaks to FORBES AFRICA about the country’s growth prospects on the back of its 60 years of independence celebrations.



Kenya is, arguably, East Africa’s most robust economy, with the country putting in the yards to better itself in several sectors. With 2023 marking a watershed moment for the country, it celebrated key achievements over the past 60 years as well as its impact on business in Africa through the creation of opportunities for investment.



“Kenya has a diverse and resilient economy, with sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, services, tourism, and energy offering opportunities for investment,” says KEPSA CEO, Carole Kariuki.



She adds that a systematic urge to position the country as a key investment hub is paying off.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Some of the opportunities for investments in Kenya include being the leading producer and exporter of agricultural products such as tea, coffee, flowers, fruits and vegetables. There is potential for value addition, agro-processing, irrigation, and mechanization in the sector.” &nbsp;



Kenya is one of the fastest growing economies in Africa, with an average annual growth rate of 4.8% between 2015 and 2019 and an expected 5% growth in 2023. The country has reduced poverty from 36.5% in 2005 to 27.2% in 2019 and has improved its global ranking in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business index from 136th in 2015 to 56th in 2020.



As a leader in innovation and technology in on the continent, with a vibrant startup ecosystem and a strong digital infrastructure, Kenya is home to some of the most successful African tech companies, such as Safaricom, M-PESA and BRCK, among others.



However, there are challenges. High power costs have not been good for the economy and the country witnessed the exit of a large number of companies in December due to high operational expenses.



“Manufacturing has a well-developed industrial base that Kenya boasts of. The sector produces a variety of goods such as textiles, leather, food and beverages, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, plastics, and metal products. The government has identified manufacturing as one of the key pillars of its Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda,” admits Kariuki.



Despite the nation’s ambitious plans to increase the sector’s contribution to GDP, some heavy-lifting is necessary to tackle the high-power costs. Going into the next 10 years of growth, Kariuki says accelerated economic growth will be driven by increased investment in trade, transport, communication and innovation.



“The country has a well-developed infrastructure network, a skilled labor force, and a conducive regulatory framework for doing business. Kenya is well-positioned for take-off in the next decade, as it has many strengths and opportunities to leverage,” she says. &nbsp;



With a median age of almost 20 years, and a literacy rate of 81.5%, as reported in 2018, the country has all the necessary ingredients to chart out a new and prosperous future.&nbsp;But despite Kenya being a regional hub, weak governance could dampen the country’s prospects.&nbsp;



“My administration will be stepping up the war on graft. Any public servant found to be engaging in corruption will be subjected to face the full wrath of the law,” said President William Ruto, when the nation marked its Mashujaa Day celebrations in October last year. &nbsp;



Kenya has primed itself as a gateway to the East African trade corridor, a bloc that boasts a market of over 300 million people (about a quarter of Africa’s population) and a reported combined GDP of $305.3 billion.



According to Kariuki, the roll-out of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) provides preferential access for Kenyan products and services to these markets.



“A visionary and ambitious development agenda that aims to transform Kenya into a middle-income country by 2030 needs a renewed focus on delivering food security, affordable housing, universal health coverage, manufacturing, and SME development. That require[s] massive investment outlays and will put Kenya on the pedestal for industrialization,” she says. &nbsp;



Having being at the helm of&nbsp;KEPSA&nbsp;for a decade and counting, Kariuki believes that with democracy being the cradle of hope for a better Kenya, the private sector must also be an active player in the country.



“KEPSA&nbsp;continues to play an important role in achieving a better and prosperous Kenya by representing the voice of the private sector in Kenya and engaging with the government, development partners, and other stakeholders on cross-cutting policy issues and programs for social and economic development of the country.”



Kenya has transformed from a lacking and divided colony to a stable and prosperous nation with a vibrant democracy, a diversified economy, and a leading role in regional and global affairs.

Carole Kariuki of KEPSA; image supplied

Manufacturing, Energy And Agriculture Among Sectors Bound For Development In East African Economy

A Brazilian producer and a Kenyan singer came together to create a song last year that soared up music charts globally, and collaborating with an India-born director for the video, it is now a milestone for African sound.



A decade ago, who knew Africa would boast a full-fledged creative economy?



The continent is front and center on the global stage today especially when it comes to its music, which has seen rapid strides with collaborations between homegrown artists, producers, and directors and creative talent from across the world.



Into this mix, we are now seeing one of the biggest cross- cultural collaborations in the Electronic Dance Music (EDM) genre yet, described by critics as “a song that will give you an undeniable earworm” (catchy piece of music that sticks).



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Brazilian music producer Matheus Zerbini Massa, popularly known as Zerb, released the single Mwaki in October last year. The song, featuring Kenyan singer Sofiya Nzau, has been globally soaring up charts such as Shazam TOP 200 GLOBAL Popular Songs and Spotify Global Viral 50.



Its success has come as no surprise for the team’s creators. “To be honest, [I am not surprised at how big the song has become], not really,” Massa says to FORBES AFRICA. “It’s very unique. Every person I have [passed on] the song to has said it’s one of their favorites on the EP. Usually, when we are not doing music that is in English, we think it’s harder to break barriers. And this song [has been] the opposite. Because it has connected with people from all over the world.”



Mwaki, which predominantly features Nzau’s vocals, is in Kenya’s Kikuyu language. Nzau knew the song would go viral but was not sure about the extent of it.



“I’m just grateful that it’s still doing [well],” Nzau says. “We are in a season where Africans are accepting that we don’t have to [sing in] English to be heard outside of Africa. And the fact [is] that even audiences outside of Africa are willing to listen to our music… I am glad to be part of a campaign like this.”Mwaki paints a colorful picture with a strong African narrative 


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="684" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Mwaki-Video-Shoot-behind-the-scenes-PMG-2023-273__-1024x684.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-61091" style="width:480px;height:auto" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Mwaki-Video-Shoot-behind-the-scenes-PMG-2023-273__-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Mwaki-Video-Shoot-behind-the-scenes-PMG-2023-273__-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Mwaki-Video-Shoot-behind-the-scenes-PMG-2023-273__-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Mwaki-Video-Shoot-behind-the-scenes-PMG-2023-273__-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Mwaki-Video-Shoot-behind-the-scenes-PMG-2023-273__.jpg 2000w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">(Image supplied)</figcaption></figure></div>


Literally, Mwaki means fire but at its core, it’s a song of longing.



Nzau shares that it’s about fighting for something you love and not being afraid. “It’s the story of a woman who is in love with a man her parents are not in approval of, but she’s willing to fight for him, she’s willing to cover him. Just so she can be with him. Just so she can experience love.”



Following the song’srelease, therewasacollectiveneed to prolong the cultural and creative celebrations commemorating the diverse and enriching elements conveyed in the song and bringing them to life visually.



How can a collaborative depiction of culture, creativity and achievements be effectively portrayed? That is where director Mikhail Mehra comes in, literally.



“I feel like I’m the chaos guy,” Mehra jokes, speaking with FORBES AFRICA on a Zoom call from his home in Los Angeles. “People call me when it’s like chaotic and insane and they’re like ‘can you pull this off’?”



Mehra,born and raised in Mumbai, India, remembers that first call with Jake Udell, the American music manager and founder of TH3RD BRAIN, the independent record label that Massa is signed up with.



“Jake called me a couple of weeks before Christmas and he’s like ‘listen, man, I got this amazing song, do you think you can pull off this music video [during] this timeline, and can you deliver it to us in the second week of January?’&#8221; 


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="684" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Mwaki-Video-Shoot-behind-the-scenes-PMG-2023-94__-1024x684.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-61094" style="width:608px;height:auto" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Mwaki-Video-Shoot-behind-the-scenes-PMG-2023-94__-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Mwaki-Video-Shoot-behind-the-scenes-PMG-2023-94__-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Mwaki-Video-Shoot-behind-the-scenes-PMG-2023-94__-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Mwaki-Video-Shoot-behind-the-scenes-PMG-2023-94__-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Mwaki-Video-Shoot-behind-the-scenes-PMG-2023-94__.jpg 2000w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">(Image supplied)</figcaption></figure></div>


And Mehra responded: “Uh, yes.” It was to be shot in Kenya.



Alec Udell, Co-CEO of TH3RD BRAIN, says that it was about more than just filming in Kenya, it was about contributing to the country, especially since most of the crew was from the country.



“For the music video, we asked ‘where do we shoot’?” Alec says. “It wasn’t a business decision; it was more of a creative decision. How can a music video feel authentic for the song if it’s not shot in Kenya? It didn’t feel like there was anywhere else in the world that made sense to shoot it and get the authenticity of it, which I think was important.”


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="684" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Mwaki-Video-Shoot-behind-the-scenes-PMG-2023-250__-1024x684.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-61092" style="width:664px;height:auto" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Mwaki-Video-Shoot-behind-the-scenes-PMG-2023-250__-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Mwaki-Video-Shoot-behind-the-scenes-PMG-2023-250__-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Mwaki-Video-Shoot-behind-the-scenes-PMG-2023-250__-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Mwaki-Video-Shoot-behind-the-scenes-PMG-2023-250__-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Mwaki-Video-Shoot-behind-the-scenes-PMG-2023-250__.jpg 2000w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Hell’s Gate National Park in Nairobi (Image supplied)</figcaption></figure></div>


Africa’s creative economy is growing, generating billions but in comparison with the rest of the world, the uptake is slower. The continent’s share remains significantly low, accounting for only around 2.9% of global creative goods exports, representing $58.4 billion and less than 1% of the African GDP, according to the United Nations Development Programme report on Accelerating Creativity and Innovation in Africa. And when projects do emerge, their coverage demonstrates that notonly is Africa misrepresented, it is underrepresented. Furthermore, negative stereotypes, poor narratives, and mystifying clichés continue to be propagated in the stories that come out of the continent.



Although Mwaki has a strong narrative, Mehra did away with a storyline for the music video and worked stylistically to ensure there would be no clichés.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="684" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Mwaki-Video-Shoot-behind-the-scenes-PMG-2023-84___-1024x684.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-61096" style="width:405px;height:auto" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Mwaki-Video-Shoot-behind-the-scenes-PMG-2023-84___-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Mwaki-Video-Shoot-behind-the-scenes-PMG-2023-84___-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Mwaki-Video-Shoot-behind-the-scenes-PMG-2023-84___-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Mwaki-Video-Shoot-behind-the-scenes-PMG-2023-84___-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Mwaki-Video-Shoot-behind-the-scenes-PMG-2023-84___.jpg 2000w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">(Image supplied)</figcaption></figure></div>


Filming was at Hell’s Gate National Park in Nairobi amidst its cliffs, gorges, rock towers, volcanoes and plumes of geothermal steam. “I wanted it to be a visual treat. So, colors and textures [were] important. We knew we wanted dance [incorporated heavily] and I wanted a lot of dancers… I knew I wanted it to be big.”



“The director’s vision was to give the music video a sense of grandeur,” Kenyan producer Fuad Mbigi chips in.



“To film in a big, beautiful location with a gorgeous African savannah backdrop with as many dancers as possible… The song is a global hit so it only makes sense that the video too is grand.”



“I see African influence everywhere in the West,” Mehra concurs. “…So, it just feels natural. And it feels very obvious to me why [the continent] could be having a moment. And one could argue that this is one moment in a long series of moments.”



“The song has proven that music is a universal language,” Massa adds.



“And it proves that with music, we can combine different cultures and different sounds from different parts of the world. I’m a Brazilian producer, with a Kenyan singer and we got one of the biggest songs in the world right now.”



Nzau adds that collaborations like this have allowed her to see the doors of opportunity open wider and that Africa can “be viewed as big as other countries or other continents”.



“I want African artists to believe that whatever we have here, languages, culture, traditions, instruments, or anything African is good enough to be used and to represent us. Other than us just trying to copy and fit in, we just [continue] to create our own because everything we do here is all beautiful.”

Mwaki Video Shoot behind the scenes PMG 2023 109___

FOR THE RECORD: An African Song Soaring Up Charts Filmed In Kenya

Wandia Gichuru cannot wait for the day that AfCFTA becomes a reality, especially in the textiles and fashion space.



Most people start young. But while in her 40s, Wandia Gichuru’s journey into entrepreneurship was serendipitous and unexpected. Creating a truly Kenyan fashion brand, she now epitomizes a new generation of fearless entrepreneurs in the East African nation.



Before venturing into the fashion world, Gichuru spent over 15 years as an international development advisor, working for the government of the United Kingdom, the United Nations and the World Bank. But she always knew that she wanted to make a difference back home.



Into fitness in a big way and also a salsa dancer, she set up Vivo Activewear with a friend, Anne-Marie Burugu, in Nairobi in 2011, with a vision to create a Made in Kenya brand catering to women embracing wellness as a lifestyle. She went on to also set up an e-commerce platform onboarding Made in Kenya beauty and fashion brands.



From a single store in Nairobi, Vivo Activewear grew to include Vivo Woman, Safari and Zoya, curated to resonate with the contemporary African renowned for fusing style, comfort, functionality, and affordability.



“Our vision at Vivo Fashion Group is to see Africa dress herself, as well as Africa dress the world. We believe that in addition to being great producers and ardent consumers of fashion, the time has come that we are also creators of strong African fashion brands,” says Gichuru.



The fashion label recently joined the&nbsp;Nairobi Securities&nbsp;Exchange’s Ibuka incubation and acceleration program.



“We want as many people as possible to join us on this journey. So, listing on the Nairobi Securities Exchange would be one way to do this, by allowing anyone who wishes to become a shareholder of the group.”



Expanding its footprint across East Africa and beyond is a pivotal component of Vivo&#8217;s strategy. Unlike merely exporting Kenyan styles, the approach involves tailoring offerings to suit each unique market it enters.



Gichuru emphasizes the importance of establishing partnerships with creators, designers, suppliers, and manufacturers in these regions, thus nurturing the industry ecosystem.



“Over 200 million East Africans get up and get dressed every day. It is hard to get accurate data, but in our estimation, less than 5% of East Africans wear any clothes that were produced in East Africa. So, the opportunities in the fashion sector are huge, and we are only scratching the surface,” says Gichuru.



As Africa prepares for a single trading bloc under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Gichuru says this presents an exciting opportunity, especially in the textiles and fashion sector. She envisions the removal of barriers that currently impede sourcing and distribution across African countries, potentially opening doors to new African brands entering the Kenyan market.



“We cannot wait for the day that AfCFTA becomes a reality, especially in the textiles and fashion space. This will open doors for everyone in the sector in such powerful ways. We are desperate, for example, to make clothing using Kitenge fabric from Ghana. However, under the current tax environment, we would have to pay 50% duty on Ghanaian fabric, which makes it impossible to create a competitively priced product from it.”



For entrepreneurs like Gichuru, this impending reality holds the promise of uncharted growth. However, alongside this anticipation come the pressing concerns regarding the key challenges that must be addressed to facilitate the scaling of businesses like hers on the African stage.



“Hopefully, AfCFTA will address these kinds of challenges and we will be able to start sourcing from and distributing to countries across Africa. And vice versa, we will see all kinds of African brands enter the Kenyan market,” she says.



Gichuru’s venture, Shop Zetu, is also making strides in Kenya’s fast-growing e-commerce space. The platform is a one-stop shop for all things fashion, beauty, and accessories.



Her current focus is the East African and COMESA markets, where products can be more efficiently moved to and from Kenya.



The Vivo Fashion Group also places strong emphasis on diversity and inclusion. Over 70% of its 450 employees are women. Gichuru is also keen on promoting female entrepreneurs.



“Women in particular are sometimes afraid to come across as too ambitious or too confident. Which can work against us, especially when trying to raise capital. We must be clear about our goals and learn how to articulate them in a way that convinces people that we know where we are going, we know how to get there, and that they should join us on the journey.”



She advises aspiring entrepreneurs to be true to themselves and not let perfectionism or fear hinder their ambitions. She also emphasizes the importance of action.



“I have an incredibly strong bias for action. The advice I mostly give to younger entrepreneurs is to just get started! Don’t let ideas just sit in your head. Start! Execute! Put something in front of potential customers and get a reaction. You’ll either make a sale or you’ll get some feedback – or hopefully both. But it will get you one step further on your way to building a real business”.



As Kenya celebrates 60 years of independence, Gichuru believes that determination and resilience are central to keeping the country’s entrepreneurial spirit alive.



“We have a way of picking ourselves up and keeping ourselves going. And we are also lucky that we live in such a beautiful country, and have a great sense of humor – so no matter how difficult things are, the sun will still be bright and shining, and someone next to you is going to crack a joke and make you laugh!

Wandia Gichuru; image supplied

‘To See Africa Dress The World’: A Kenyan Fashion Entrepreneur On The Industry’s Promising Future  

Zuri obtains fabrics and designs from Kenya and other African countries, creating jobs.



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African style is making its way to New York City. In June this year, the Brooklyn Museum hosted Africa Fashion, one of North America’s largest exhibits celebrating African clothing and craftsmanship. From being highlighted on fashion runways to new stores popping up around the city, fashion from the continent is creeping into the wardrobes of many New Yorkers.



One fast-growing store is Zuri, which opened a few years ago in downtown Manhattan. The brand prides itself on obtaining fabrics and designs from Kenya and other African countries.



“We are hiring different artists from there, who then produce the pieces,” Tiffany Collins, an employee at Zuri, tells FORBES AFRICA. “Then it’s shipped. So you kind of create this ecosystem that continuously flows. You’re creating jobs, and you’re paying people fair, livable wages.”



Workers at Zuri hope their efforts will make African clothes a staple in wardrobes.



“More celebration and understanding of the textile and the process and what really goes into producing those beautiful pieces,” is what Collins wishes for. “So many hands have touched them prior to them even getting here.”

Screen Shot 2023-12-19 at 15.09.04

Rocking African Style In Manhattan

<blockquote class="wp-block-quote has-text-align-center is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“We are not merely making policy, but are nurturing a legacy of boundless growth and shared prosperity under BeTA (Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda),” says Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary For Foreign Diaspora Affairs, Dr Musalia Mudavadi.
</blockquote>



Kenya, the largest economy in East Africa, celebrated 60 years of independence on December 12, 2023.



In June, during the country’s Madaraka Day celebrations, which commemorate the day Kenya attained self-rule in 1963 – a day that would prove pivotal in its pursuit of independence, President William Samoei Ruto stated that “every Kenya African understood [the first Madaraka Day] to be the beginning of the hard and noble work of securing and enhancing social and economic freedom as well.”



“For six decades now, the people of Kenya have worked hard, with admirable diligence and unwavering determination, to perfect the political freedom of their nation through sustained socioeconomic progress,” he added.



The country, in which GDP is projected to grow 5.6% in 2023 and 6.0% in 2024, according to an economic outlook published by the African Development Bank (AfDB) earlier this year, is considered “a powerhouse within the East African community”.



This was the sentiment from Dr Musalia Mudavadi, Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Diaspora Affairs.



“On the global stage, Kenya’s influence has soared, expanding its footprint in international trade, becoming a key member of regional bodies such as the East African Community (EAC), the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), and forging essential economic partnerships like AGOA with the United States and having an Economic Partnership Arrangement with the European Union (EU),” he tells FORBES AFRICA.



Furthermore, the country is committed to global harmony, underscored by its active participation in the United Nations peacekeeping framework.



“As we celebrate 60 years of independence, these achievements and challenges serve as stepping stones toward a future of even greater promise,” Mudavadi adds.



Solidifying Kenya’s commitment to economic development, in 2022, it exported a total of $7.4 billion, globally.



Approximately, $767 million of this revenue came directly from the country’s 89 Export Processing Zones (EPZs). This year, President Ruto announced new plans to expand this number with an additional five new zones to complement this growth and encourage more foreign investment in the country.



The East African nation’s technology ecosystem also holds immense potential, according to Endeavor Kenya Managing Director, Maryanne Ochola.



“The Kenyan startup ecosystem is nascent and full of promise,” she says, adding, “A number of important events saw Kenya turn the tide. These were the laying of the first undersea internet cable, the launch of M-PESA and the establishment of innovation hubs such as iLab at Strathmore University. These



developments underscore the importance of two key assets – enabling infrastructure and physical spaces for like-minded innovators to convene and exchange ideas.”



Mudavadi also emphasizes “Kenya’s pioneering role in the mobile banking revolution” and concludes: “Our legacy, we hope, will be woven from the threads of unity, determination, the resilient spirit of the African, and a relentless pursuit of a better tomorrow for every African.”



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Aerial view of illuminated city buildings against sky at night,Nairobi,Kenya

Leading With A Legacy Of Economic Transformation: Kenya Celebrates 60 Years Of Independence

The man behind the success of the The Real Housewives of Nairobi has an equally interesting story.



Amidst the ever-changing landscape of entrepreneurship, Eugene Mbugua is a role model in Kenya, embarking on a journey that found its roots in the most unexpected of places — a high school canteen. Nestled within the hallowed halls of Nairobi&#8217;s Upper Hill Boys High School, Mbugua took his first steps into the world of business by joining a student-owned canteen that offered break snacks. This early foray ignited the flames of entrepreneurship within him, leading him to become a shareholder in the venture and explore unique avenues, such as selling creatively-adorned envelopes to fellow students, designed for penning letters to girlfriends in other boarding schools, whose letters were sent via post.



When he moved on to university, he continued his quest to explore the world of business. He dabbled in various enterprises, from a shop selling bootleg DVDs to a haven for video game enthusiasts between classes. “I also tried my hand in different businesses varying from event management to a tour company; they all failed,” says Mbugua.



It was during his last year of university that the tide turned. A chance encounter with the world of film-making after high school, courtesy of a cousin who brought him to a film set, ignited a passion that would change his life&#8217;s course. This newfound love led him to pursue a course in television production at university, while concurrently managing his small businesses and exploring various job opportunities in the field.



Throughout this tumultuous journey, Mbugua held onto a dream – the dream of creating his own TV show.



“This whole time I pitched to quite a number of different TV stations. Eventually about a month prior to my graduation, our first show Young Rich was bought by a local station”. It focused on young entrepreneurs and quickly became a top-ranking, award-winning TV show. “That was our first milestone, the premiere of our first TV show Young Rich in 2013. It’s what set the ground for everything else that came”.



Mbugua and his team at D&amp;R Studios went on to produce more than 20 television shows, establishing a prominent presence in Kenya&#8217;s media landscape. Their latest sensation, The Real Housewives of Nairobi, is capturing audiences&#8217; attention not just in Kenya but on an international scale, thanks to collaborations with platforms like Showmax and NBCUniversal.



After a successful run of their reality show Kyallo Kulture, Mbugua got into the beauty space, forging partnerships with entities and personalities that allow the studio to not only take advantage of their clientele base but also tap into their huge following to provide value for audiences and broadcasters.



He recently launched a cosmetic line called Unapologetic in partnership with media personality and entrepreneur Betty Kyallo.



What makes Mbugua’s journey particularly fascinating is his ability to adapt and innovate. One major pivot came in 2020-2021 when D&amp;R Studios attracted investment and established a governing board.



“We took in investment and set up a board which now governs the company and to which I answer to as CEO. The board’s input has often helped us expand our view of what our business is capable of and has also helped us put together governing structures needed to scale new heights,” says Mbugua.



This strategic move allowed him to expand the company&#8217;s horizons and put in place the structures needed for scaling greater heights. As an avid reader now learning to play the saxophone, he finds inspiration in books.



Challenges abound in the film and television industry, with the rapid growth of digital media and technological advancements like AI rendering some job roles obsolete. However, Mbugua and D&amp;R Studios seem to have met these challenges with a proactive attitude. Mbugua predicts that streaming services will continue to thrive, offering on-demand content to an audience reluctant to return to traditional TV schedules. Self-publishing through platforms like TikTok and YouTube will also gain momentum, providing fame and fortune for emerging talent.



“What I think will provide the most disruption however is artificial intelligence. If one is able to use these tools well, it is possible to generate very good content very quickly and this might build some new fortunes and destroy others.”



For aspiring entrepreneurs entering the industry, Mbugua, an alum of the FORBES AFRICA 30 Under 30 list, offers an essential piece of advice: “Start where you are with what you have and embrace new technology quickly. In a rapidly-changing media landscape, early adopters are handsomely rewarded.”

Eugene Mbugua; image supplied

Kenya’s Early Adopter In Showbiz On The Next Big Disruption

Agriculture represents one of Kenya’s largest industries. Over the decades, the mega-sector has shaped and formed to include some of the continent&#8217;s highest export volumes, with major crops making a name for the country in the global market. FORBES AFRICA takes a closer look as the country celebrates its 60th birthday.



Agriculture in Kenya is big business. According to the latest Central Bank data, this national industry is responsible for at least 20% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It’s also a top income earner, accounting for 65% of national export earnings, and employs over 40% of the working population; a majority of which (approximately 70%) lives outside the cities. Additionally, the industry is directly and indirectly responsible for the livelihoods of an estimated 80% of the Kenyan population.



The productivity of this industry is expected to have a major impact on the economic growth of the country. Hence, it has become a cornerstone pillar in President William Ruto’s strategic economic plan known as the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA).



Among six pillars, Agriculture cuts across several objectives intended to boost resilience and recovery in the country’s national economy. Among the key directives is a paradigm shift, challenging previous policy approaches in force within the industry.



A focus on entrepreneurship, across the value chain, including at farm-level as well as a move towards unit productivity rather than production marks the shift. Adding to this, agricultural resources, such as land and livestock, are now treated as national assets, elevating these factors of production to crucial levers in prevailing food security and export mandates. Overall, BETA seeks to address major economic challenges including poverty reduction through the creation of employment opportunities, particularly for the country’s large youth population, as well as boosting foreign exchange earnings, among others.



Organizations, in both the public and private sectors as well as civil society, have stepped in to shore up targets. Among them is the Centre for African Bio-Entrepreneurship (CABE), which supports stakeholders across the agricultural value chain in Kenya including farmers and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).



“We do market linkages. We gather market information, share the current state of market, in terms of agricultural produce [and] what is trending [in the marketplace]. This is to create value so that they have a targeted market and whenever they engage in business, it is demand-driven,” explains Lucy Adoyo, who leads Research at CABE’s Nairobi headquarters, to FORBES AFRICA.



MSMEs represent an important layer of the sectoral value chain and within the BETA framework. One of the pillars of the economic agenda, these enterprises are poised to drive job creation and stimulate trade and market activities across the national economy. Within agriculture, they provide a crucial pipeline for the youth population to enter the industry while employing the majority of Kenyans who depend on subsistence farming for both food and finance.



“These are the enterprises that produce the food which we consume in the country. They are the people you’d find in the domestic market and those are the people who even drive the local economy beyond the export [market]. The current discussions we’re having right now are around sustainable food systems coupled with climate action,” adds Adoyo.



These agribusinesses range from specialization to size and focus on direct food production to value addition such as agro-processing. The development of these businesses is a core national objective and a target of the BETA plan.



Last year, Strathmore University Business School, one of the most respected tertiary institutions in the country, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries and the Kenya Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) announced a program to support MSMEs within the industry. The partnership is intended to commercialize sectoral value chains across the country’s major counties; each of them home to a bulk of the farming population in Kenya.



While these businesses form a crucible within Kenyan agriculture, MSMEs in the country remain arrested in development. Barriers to growth such as lack of access to financing and markets are consistent stumbling blocks for entrepreneurs across all sectors as well as inflexible policy environments. The hopes for the BETA interventions frame this context with its promises for improved trading conditions, greater access to funding, and much needed business development support.



The Strathmore Business School program for agricultural MSMEs sharpens its focus on addressing gaps in the industrial value chain; beyond direct business support. Data, for improved policy-making and for tracking sectoral growth and impact, is lacking at both local and international levels. The program launched with an intention to address these challenges.



“There is a need to map out the value chains and integrate them under one platform to inform decision-making and areas of intervention,’’ noted Dr. George Njenga, Programs Manager at the Kenya Small Business Development Centers, during the announcement.



In Kenya, these enterprises currently employ close to 15 million people and hold the key for further job creation within the agricultural industry, particularly for the growing youth population.



“Youth are mobile, youth transition very fast, [they] are also innovative in nature and if we understand those aspects about youth, [then] creating sustainability [in] the businesses they establish and also tracking them to ensure that they are creating employment opportunities for themselves and others; looking at the multiplier effect of the initial seed [investment] is most important to us,” says Adoyo of CABE.



Kenyan youth are becoming prolific players within agriculture than in previous decades thanks to recent policy efforts, namely the national Kenya Youth Agribusiness Strategy that ran from 2018 to 2022. However, like other entrepreneurs in the MSME space, young agri-preneurs face similar challenges to scale such as limited market information, lack of credit, and competition from imported agricultural produce, which is often cheaper and floods the market during peak seasons.



Nevertheless, they remain a crucial demographic for BETA’s interventions, across the board. The country’s young people not only represent major human capital potential at the national level, they are also potential food producers for Kenya&#8217;s local and export markets. However, to keep them in the industry, relevant support systems need to be put in place, explains Adoyo.



“They are looking for livelihoods. If they are unable to sustain themselves, they might even sell their infrastructure and move on to the next thing. Sustainability of initial efforts is what is key in making sure that youth are able to earn meaningful employment or income.”



Like its youth population, agriculture remains one of Kenya’s most vibrant and promising industries. With output set to grow over the coming decades and its current export earning prowess, the industry is poised to drive the country into a new era of development and economic growth – financing the futures and fortunes – of the next generation.

Vegetable farmer

Kenya@60: Driving Agribusiness As A Core Imperative In The East African Country 

The Nairobi-based co-founder of Craydel, an online career guidance platform, speaks to FORBES AFRICA about its ambitions to democratize higher education and scale across Africa. But first, more on what sparked his entrepreneurial journey.



Manish Sardana is in the midst of a busy day, opening yet another office, a bigger one, in Nairobi’s upscale Westlands area when we catch up for a conversation on Craydel, the edtech startup he successfully co-founded in Kenya in 2021, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.



“Right now, we have five offices – three in Nigeria and two in Kenya – and about 70-odd employees and we are growing rapidly,” the platform’s 43-year-old CEO says about the growth of what was once “just an idea in his head”.



At a time when most startups are battling to survive and retrenching staff, Craydel is hiring rapidly and on its way to profitability in 2024, he adds. On the cards: expansion to more markets such as Ghana, Uganda and South Africa. The investors are keen and Sardana is optimistic.



“When you are building something that has a real vision trying to solve a real problem, you get people gravitating towards you,” says Sardana of his platform that dispels misinformation and biases for students and guides decisions on college and course selection.&nbsp;Craydel is building the tech infrastructure to empower African learners to search, match and apply to their best-fit higher education institutions.



In 2021, Sardana, along with his co-founders <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-nguru-38677638/?originalSubdomain=ke" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">John Nguru</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/shayne-aman-premji/?originalSubdomain=ke" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Shayne Aman Premji</a>, secured $1 million for Craydel in a pre-seed round led by Enza Capital, a private venture fund that invests in early-stage tech startups across Africa. Subsequently, they secured another $1.5 million to grow the platform.



Craydel – a play on the word ‘cradle’ – &nbsp;hand-holds students wanting to pursue higher education – from graduation to post-graduation to PhD – at any point in their student or professional career. In fact, 50% of their postgraduate enrolments are working professionals looking for a career change, says Sardana.



The tech startup has 380 direct partnerships with universities so far and seeks to democratize access to tertiary education, in turn, addressing the low gross enrolment rate, of about 9%, in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This includes working professionals who have not been to college before, for want of access to capital and resources.



Two years in, Sardana says they have figured out the formula for success.



“We know that if you do X, Y and Z, you are going to be successful. That equation is very clear to us now.



We want to show that we can build a real unicorn out of Africa, creating real impact.”



But there’s a reason why Craydel may as well be on its way to savoring billion-dollar success in the future. Sardana has a track-record of building and scaling successful businesses from the ground-up.



His penchant for entrepreneurship had its humble beginnings in India, and followed him to Africa, a continent that he now calls home and one that has “given so much” to him.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“I owe it to Africa,” he explains of his mission to expand opportunities in education.



“One of the things I realized early on in life is to observe things around me… What I love is looking at ecosystems and how things work, and understand how it is broken, and use technology to disrupt that ecosystem. There&#8217;s also a theory I use, which is called ‘perpetuators versus agitators’; wherein perpetuators perpetuate an ecosystem because it benefits them, while an agitator can really shake this up from the outside and create a better, more efficient ecosystem,” says Sardana.



‘Serial entrepreneur’



His first tryst with entrepreneurship was at the age of 10. From a middle class home in Delhi – with three rooms and 16 family members – Sardana was born to parents who worked in the government and instilled in him a love for reading.



He engaged this by creating “a sharing concept or library with a common pool of books and comics from everyone in one place”, renting books out to friends and relatives. The venture failed, but not without him realizing how much he enjoyed the process of creating it. All through school and college, he found enterprising ways to make pocket money, becoming “a serial entrepreneur more out of necessity than anything else”.



His parents allowed him these entrepreneurial bouts, so long as he was going to top his class, study economics and go on to become a civil services officer. Whilst studying for an economics degree in Delhi University’s Hansraj College, Sardana was also teaching students. But disillusionment set in.



“I mean 90% of what I studied two years ago, I had no recollection of, and I could not see how that education was going to ever help me in life. And especially because I had kind of exposed myself to building businesses, I did not see any practical application of what I was studying.”



Along with a couple of friends, he soon set up his own publishing business – a college magazine in Delhi University that proved to be very popular on campus. He hustled, spending nights at the printing press and knocking on advertisers’ doors during the day, thumbing through the Yellow Pages directories and traveling across Delhi on his dad’s scooter. This was in the year 2000.



“My parents said I have got to stop this and do my master’s degree,” says Sardana. His mom filled out a form to the prestigious Delhi School of Economics. Some of India’s greatest economists such as Nobel laureate Amartya Sen and former Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh have taught at the institution. &nbsp;



Sardana cleared the entrance exam, quite by default. “I really did not study for it. The only way I cleared the exam was because I was teaching my classmates and charging them money for it. So I would [conduct] private tuitions for my own classmates, and in the process of teaching them, I would kind of learn myself.”



Very soon, he realized it was all theoretical economics and he had no passion for it. It didn’t challenge him enough, so three months into the course, he quit.



After that, he tried to rekindle the magazine business but had to close it down. He also authored an economics textbook for class 12 students. A year on, he went on to do his MBA at the FORE School of Management and was subsequently hired by advertising agency FCB Ulka. Before long, he felt “jaded” in the industry doing marketing campaigns. But Sardana was also closely watching from the sidelines the big renaissance unraveling in India’s technology sector.



“That was in 2004-2005, the internet was coming up, Amazon was becoming a big thing and Google had come up. I saw the power of technology really changing and transforming ecosystems and got really excited about it,” he recalls.



After that, he worked four years in a successful edtech startup called Vriti, and the company managed to raise a total funding of $35 million.



“It was a lot of money at the time… Eventually, I sliced the part of the company I was running and set up as a separate company. I sold my company to a financial investor. So that was my first successful exit, which I was really happy about.



“And then, after seven years, I needed a break, I was very much done. Startups can also be an emotionally-draining experience, you know, especially when you are just married and have kids.”



A six-month break ensued, during which time he also helped his wife set up her bakery business, delivering her cakes door-to-door in their black Maruti Esteem car.



That was in 2014 when Sardana’s Africa rendezvous was just about to begin.



‘Owe it to Africa’



One of his former bosses who had been following his journey in the technology space told him about an opportunity in Africa with multinational communications company, WPP to focus on the digital marketing side of the business.



Within 10 days of receiving the offer, Sardana was on a plane to Kenya, his first trip outside of India. It took him three years to settle down, to understand the market and the consumers, and he was promoted to Managing Director for WPP-Scangroup in SSA.&nbsp; &nbsp;



He won a lot of business for the company but the entrepreneur in him was beginning to surface, again. He built a marketing automation platform called Optimus for the company, which is when he met and worked with his current co-founder and CTO, Nguru.



He presented the product to the board but it didn’t work. He presented it to one of their clients, Barclays in Kenya, and thereby to the bank’s leadership in South Africa, who were very impressed and gave him a chance to deploy it across their markets, which he calls his “first lucky break”.



“Once Barclays happened, you know, success creates more success. Suddenly, at WPP, the guys woke up!”



Sardana says Optimus was also deployed by leading African entities such as Kenya Commercial Bank, Equity Bank, the Old Mutual Group and Airtel.



The epiphany after that was inspired by his wife, whose bakery business was also doing well.



“She said to me ‘you know, you guys keep building all this sophisticated technology for large blue chip companies, but what about building something to help small businesses like us scale’?



“That was my first moment in Africa when I said, ‘okay, I&#8217;m making a lot of money for myself, am building a lot of wealth for my organization and for my clients, who are very rich people to start with, but we are really not doing anything of any significance, of impact, using our skill sets, and our insights for the large masses, the small business sector. If you understand Africa, it&#8217;s really run on the back of very micro SMEs.”



This led to the creation of Optimus Mini for small businesses. Eventually, that platform was called Goby – “the smallest fish in the world”. He explains the philosophy behind it.



“The big fish eat the small fish. So we wanted to empower the small fish to fight and compete with the big fish, by giving them access to all the technology and resources they needed. It was essentially e-commerce-as-a-service platform, allowing small entrepreneurs to upload their product pictures and prices, and it will set up an entire e-commerce shop for them online, integrated with payment gateways and logistics partners to deliver the products.”


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="682" height="1024" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Manish-Sardana-image-supplied-682x1024.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-60328" style="width:335px;height:auto" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Manish-Sardana-image-supplied-682x1024.jpeg 682w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Manish-Sardana-image-supplied-200x300.jpeg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Manish-Sardana-image-supplied-768x1153.jpeg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Manish-Sardana-image-supplied-1023x1536.jpeg 1023w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Manish-Sardana-image-supplied-1364x2048.jpeg 1364w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Manish-Sardana-image-supplied-scaled.jpeg 1705w" sizes="(max-width: 682px) 100vw, 682px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Manish Sardana; image supplied</figcaption></figure></div>


It really was just Nguru and Sardana developing it at that point.



“John is an exceptional technology guy, he&#8217;s amazing. I would come up with a product design, the user experience, the strategy, the business side of things and he would build the technology. Technology was always my handicap – I always regret not learning to code. I have all the stuff in my head but can’t build. I tell John he completes my handicap,” says Sardana.



In three months, they had 3,000 merchants signing up, deeming the platform a success. This was while they were still with WPP-Scangroup, when they had the reach, the capital and client access afforded by the company.



When Covid-19 struck in 2020, e-commerce took off and so did Goby. Leading brewer AB InBev approached them to sign on for “a B2B version of the product” to take orders online and deliver alcohol. Diageo, too, came along.



But the time had come for Sardana to go on his own, even if it meant giving up a lucrative salary and the comfort of a full-time job at WPP.



“Working with Manish was always magical, a journey into the future,” remembers Serah Katusya of that time, when she was the Managing Director at Mediacom, a sister agency at WPP-Scangroup; she is now the CEO of Belva and founder of WildMango.&nbsp;“He challenged and inspired with the same energy. He paved the way for many of us into tech, into thinking and building business solutions.&nbsp;He was definitely an agency leader decades ahead of his time.”



By the time he left WPP, Sardana had enough confidence in his abilities to build and scale real businesses. He wanted to build something in a very different space, specifically, in education.



“I think that was a very big inflection point in my life… that I was wasting all my knowledge, talent and experience building things for big companies, and I wanted to solve real problems on the ground. So that kind of gave me an exceptional amount of clarity… seeing the lives of ordinary Kenyans, doing fascinating things with very little resources and transforming their lives became a real thing.”



‘A cradle for young students’



Sardana’s research showed that there were government subsidies and funding for primary education but there was not a lot of momentum in higher education.



“The higher education infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa is extremely weak. The problem is that in most schools, the career counselor is essentially a teacher with the least amount of workload…. This entire industry is run by agents who don&#8217;t understand career counseling; they essentially push students to universities, and make money.”



According to Craydel, more than 16 million African students spend $30 billion on higher education each year.



As a continent with the youngest population in the world, Africa presents tremendous opportunities in this regard, and Sardana was quick.



“We wanted to build a cradle for young students in Africa, for them to get all the nourishment in terms of the right advice, the career counseling, the psychometric assessment, and the right technology to get them off on their own feet.”



Whilst they were setting up the company, and during the pandemic, Sardana met Premji, the third co-founder, who is now Craydel’s CFO.



“Shayne is Canadian, but like me, stayed in Africa for 10 years. We stayed on the same street in Kenya but never knew each other. During the pandemic, he was changing houses, and walked into our apartment building. That&#8217;s how we met. He had a lot of experience in investment banking, and was doing extremely well in his career…



He is also impact-driven, so said he wanted to quit his job and join us full-time… he was extremely instrumental in raising our first round of a million dollars,” says Sardana.



For now, the trio is looking forward to what lies ahead. Their “vision and impact story” is shaping up.



“We&#8217;re in a good space now, and really excited about building this journey,” concludes Sardana, as he sets off to launch the company’s brand-new office, surely, one of many more to come.

Craydel co-founders John Nguru, Manish Sardana and Shayne Aman Premji; image supplied

‘We Can Build A Real Unicorn Out Of Africa, Creating Impact’: Kenya Co-Founder On Building An Edtech Startup 

Kenyan fashion entrepreneur Ruth Abade uses upcycled materials to create vibrant clothes and accessories with sustainability sewn into them.



&#8220;It was something I’ve never seen. I was like, ‘maybe this is what they mean by the end of the world?’ The sky looked orange. And then it just went really, really dark.”



In June, the New York skies were flooded with apocalyptic color, as Canadian wildfires moved south and the smoke transformed the global center of fashion into a burned sienna hellscape.



Kenyan fashion entrepreneur Ruth Abade is in the city for trade shows, describing by video call this ominous reminder of the consequences of unfettered consumption: the world’s most charismatic metropolis reduced in minutes to incandescent shadows.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/P1000315-Photo-credit-Lars-Johansson-1024x768.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-59362" style="width:388px;height:291px" width="388" height="291" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/P1000315-Photo-credit-Lars-Johansson-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/P1000315-Photo-credit-Lars-Johansson-300x225.jpeg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/P1000315-Photo-credit-Lars-Johansson-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/P1000315-Photo-credit-Lars-Johansson-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/P1000315-Photo-credit-Lars-Johansson-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 388px) 100vw, 388px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Photos by Lars Johansson</figcaption></figure></div>


She is the owner of Blackfly Designs, an apparel, jewelry and textile company with practical sustainability embedded in its seams.



Abade and her dozen-strong team, based in Kibera’s Toi Market in Nairobi, use upcycled materials to create one-of-a-kind clothes and accessories buzzing with quirky innovation.



Blackfly’s bomber jackets pop with the vibrancy of re-purposed Indian saris; its shoulder bags are clever, jazzy patchworks of African fabric off-cuts, finished with expertly curated scraps of leather and salvaged metal fittings. The jewelry pieces are geometric alignments of the rough and the smooth, metallic juxtapositions of the polished and the well-traveled.



An industrial designer by training, Abade spent a year in Florence learning leather bag design before her skills coalesced into a business in 2012.



“So I took my industrial know-how into fashion, because I needed to survive! And then when your clientele grows, you harness all these scrap pieces as off-cuts, so I needed to develop another prototype. You have to embody the whole thing as one 



item. So we decided that if you’re going to use scrap pieces, you’re going to use them all the way. You have to always be diverse when it comes to creation, because it never stops.”



The brand grew so fast that the company began buying off-cuts from other tailors, generating a business model that initially presented challenges in how it would grow and become accessible to a wider market.



“When you’re doing one-offs, it’s difficult to sell to big retailers,” Abade says. “It’s also very difficult to sell to small stores, because they need to make a mark-up. And I wanted to create a product anybody can afford. So I had to make a decision. Either I build my own store – or people just come to the workshop.”



The brand now sells directly to its Nairobi base and from its website; it eschews the influencer and social- media-driven demand for the latest must-have, a wasteful production cycle which floods the market with cheap copycats that often end their short lives in African landfill.



“It doesn’t matter to me whether the business expands tremendously or not,” she says. “You have to stay true to the reason why you do it. We started this because of the overflow we had, but it’s also the joy of working with the suppliers who have always had our back, where the person is willing to sacrifice anything for you – because you’ve been with them for 10 years, and never gone away.”


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/P1000384-Photo-credit-Lars-Johansson-1024x768.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-59363" style="width:534px;height:401px" width="534" height="401" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/P1000384-Photo-credit-Lars-Johansson-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/P1000384-Photo-credit-Lars-Johansson-300x225.jpeg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/P1000384-Photo-credit-Lars-Johansson-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/P1000384-Photo-credit-Lars-Johansson-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/P1000384-Photo-credit-Lars-Johansson-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 534px) 100vw, 534px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Photos by Lars Johansson</figcaption></figure></div>


Abade has also been careful to shun the economic thirst-trap of the easy business loan, and has instead instituted a solidarity fund within the company to allow employees to contribute to a monthly kitty accessible when any of the team need to borrow without risk. Staff are able to access these contributions when they leave, a structure that encourages an understanding of fiscal responsibility based on mutuality and trust.



“You have to sit down with your people and be candid,” she says. “I run my business like a family, so they see the struggles.



When you have a conversation like that with people, they understand where you’re coming from.”



Mindful of the steady international growth in upcycling, and the resultant price increase in scrap material and off-cuts, Abade is now gradually shifting her focus towards printed textile production, using quality cotton fabric made by women and sourced from Tanzania. She believes her prints will open up a new niche demand for a local twist on an African fashion stalwart, with Blackfly aiming to become the leading Kenyan producer of the traditional Indonesian batik prints embraced with such joyful ubiquity in the west of the continent.



“I have a big responsibility to produce a technique that when seen anywhere in the world, people will say, ‘This is Kenyan batik, without a doubt’. Because you can’t train people if you don’t have a specific technique,” she explains.



“I’m experimenting in order to find something uniquely Kenyan – painting more than stamping; using pastel and muted colors, but in very strong combinations. I think the market is hungry for something new. And big brands are starting to really think about organic cottons, so everybody’s giving themselves a timeline to work with. We have to be ready for that timeline.”



As the North American skies clear, Abade looks ahead with hope, the creative fire still burning in her belly. “I have to remember that regardless, I’m an artist, before a businessperson. And working with artists, I think, is a nightmare,” she laughs. “But as long as it feels good – that’s what we’re going to do.”

P1000559 Photo credit Lars Johansson

Upcycling On The Fly: Fashion Forward In Kenya

Kenya is among several African countries that have experienced a decline in the local value of currencies.



By Terryanne Chebet



Kenya has had a tough few months: ballooning debt, an enormous wage bill, and a depreciating shilling exacerbated by global conditions. Now, the government is unable to pay its salaries. An increased import bill, investment portfolio outflows, and servicing of existing foreign debt have also resulted in the reserves falling below the statutory minimum of four months of imports, with the Kenya shilling depreciating to an all-time low of KES130 to the US dollar.



So, how did Kenya get here?&nbsp;



“It was a matter of &#8216;when&#8217; and not &#8216;if&#8217; KES would weaken to reflect its fundamentals. There have been successive external shocks since 2020, but the currency remained relatively stable relative to its peers. In this light, it is not surprising the sharp adjustment we have seen this year and which we see bringing it closer to its fundamental value,” explains Churchill Ogutu, an economist with IC Africa.&nbsp;



Kenya is among several African countries that have experienced a decline in the local value of currencies, with a 25% decline in value since 2020, to a large extent caused by the rising interest rate environment in the United States (US), which has witnessed a very aggressive rate tightening by the US Federal Reserve.&nbsp;



&nbsp;Kenya’s borrowing for the financial year 2022-2023 is also substantially behind target.



“Given the continued uncertainty in the global financial markets, it appears that [the government] will have no choice but to borrow at higher rates from the domestic markets,” adds Sunil Sanger, CEO of Orion Advisory.&nbsp;



Kenya is also looking to offload its parastatals to reduce pressure on funding and to raise capital.



Despite fears that Kenya could default on its external loans, experts say it is unlikely.&nbsp;



Ogutu notes that Kenya’s position may be fragile, but a default seems remote. “With FX reserves at multi-year low levels, it is higher than upcoming short-term external debt servicing costs. Thus, I see a muddling through regarding external debt servicing costs.”



He adds that a default on&nbsp;domestic borrowing seems to be more likely due to its outsized domestic debt servicing costs compared to external debt servicing costs.&nbsp;



The outflow of portfolio investments in equity and bond markets and higher import prices for commodities, particularly petroleum products has seen Kenya’s government importing petroleum products on a deferred payment basis. The government is pursuing the government-to-government oil importation deal with Gulf countries to alleviate pressure on the&nbsp;shilling.&nbsp;



The reduction in oil demand will also help to reduce the depreciation of the shilling though analysts argue that Kenya could have used the opportunity to build reserves and maybe even consider using those to start buying back its 2023 eurobond maturity, an action that could help to calm down the market nerves.



Ogutu argues that is short-term thinking. “At some point in time, the supply and demand in the FX market will still reflect the mandated OMC coming to the market sourcing dollars. Kenya may get a bit of reprieve in the short-term but ultimately, the supply-demand dynamics will come to play.”



Both analysts agree that the revival of the interbank market in the last few weeks is a positive sign and has helped to reduce some of the uncertainty in the exchange rate. However, given the economic environment both locally and internationally, it is difficult to see circumstances under which the Kenya shilling would appreciate from current levels. &nbsp;



However, Ogutu holds that the shilling isn’t out of the woods yet.



“I have the sense that the initial sugar rush in the FX interbank market has ebbed away, and the next FX guidance will be delivered with the imminent changes at the helm of CBK. That said, my base case is a continued further weakness with 140 on sight.”

African business

Kenya Currency Woes: How Did It Get There?

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Billionaire&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/meg-whitman/?sh=259d18cf63cc">Meg Whitman</a>, the Republican nominee for California governor in 2010, was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/12/08/president-biden-announces-key-nominees/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">nominated</a>&nbsp;by President Joe Biden to be U.S. ambassador to Kenya Wednesday, becoming the latest billionaire in line to earn a presidential appointment.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



Whitman previously served as CEO of eBay, Hewlett-Packard and Quibi and is a board member of Procter &amp; Gamble and General Motors.



She is worth $5 billion, according to&nbsp;Forbes’ most recent&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/meg-whitman/?sh=259d18cf63cc">estimates</a>, making her the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/forbes-400/">151st wealthiest person</a>&nbsp;in the United States as of September.



Whitman&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/michelatindera/2021/02/17/here-are-the-billionaires-who-donated-to-joe-bidens-2020-presidential-campaign/?sh=245bd1e921c4">donated</a>&nbsp;$508,400 to Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign and a joint fundraising committee tied to Biden and the Democratic National Committee.



Her nomination awaits confirmation by the Senate.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Whitman amassed her fortune as eBay CEO from 1998 to 2008, overseeing the e-commerce giant’s meteoric rise. She soon turned her attention to politics, securing the Republican nomination in the 2010 California governor’s race, eventually losing to Democratic nominee Jerry Brown 53.8-40.9%. After&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2012/05/romneys-comrade-in-capitalism-meg-whitman-076870" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">campaigning</a>&nbsp;with Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election, Whitman backed Democrats Hillary Clinton and Biden in the 2016 and 2020 elections against former President Donald Trump, whom Whitman&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/03/us/politics/meg-whitman-hillary-clinton.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">called</a>&nbsp;a “dishonest demagogue.” Biden&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2021/07/13/biden-nominates-ex-gop-sen-jeff-flake--who-backed-him-over-trump--as-ambassador-to-turkey/?sh=364d33822bc5">previously nominated</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/23/cindy-mccain-un-ambassadorship-495752" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">other Republicans</a>&nbsp;who supported his campaign, tapping former Sen. Jeff Flake to be the ambassador to Turkey and Cindy McCain, wife of late Republican Sen. John McCain, to be the U.S.’s United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture representative (both were later confirmed by the Senate).



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h2>



Whitman joins a long line of billionaires who have served in presidential cabinets or as ambassadors. Estée Lauder heir&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/ronald-lauder/?sh=3828bd05558a">Ronald Lauder</a>&nbsp;served as the U.S. ambassador to Austria under former President Ronald Reagan. Hyatt Hotels heir&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/penny-pritzker/?sh=5bcb109b216e">Penny Pritzker</a>&nbsp;was the Secretary of Commerce under president Barack Obama. Two members of billionaire families were members of the Trump Administration, as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/johnson/?sh=2cd53cb48a49">Woody Johnson</a>&nbsp;served as ambassador to the United Kingdom and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/chasewithorn/2019/07/24/inside-betsy-devos-billions-just-how-rich-is-the-education-secretary/?sh=32aca78b3b0e">Betsy DeVos</a>&nbsp;served as Secretary of Education.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h2>



$144 million. That’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2011/02/08/how-meg-whitman-spent-a-fortune-in-california/?sh=898fa517f4ad">how much</a>&nbsp;of her personal money Whitman spent in her unsuccessful 2010 bid for California governor.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/michelatindera/2021/02/17/here-are-the-billionaires-who-donated-to-joe-bidens-2020-presidential-campaign/?sh=68e1d8f521c4">Here Are The Billionaires Who Donated To Joe Biden’s 2020 Presidential Campaign</a> (Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/"></a>By Derek Saul, Forbes Africa

Cannes Lions 2019 : Day Three

Biden Nominates Billionaire Meg Whitman As Ambassador To Kenya

In Beijing, UN Secretary-General António Guterres meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Photo credit: UN China/Zhao Yun April 2018

China, the UN, and the Global Opportunity for Partnerships & Progress

The UNICEF released a report in November last year titled COVID-19: A Catastrophe for Children in Sub-Saharan Africa, stating that prolonged school closures due to Covid-19 have presented multiple problems in the sub-Saharan African region. There is now a higher rate of teenage pregnancy, poor nutrition, and permanent dropouts from school.



Furthermore, the report read: “School closures have caused the number of children and adolescents not going to school to rise from around 100 million before the pandemic to 350 million.” A classroom report of different countries:



NIGERIA



Despite the fact that Nigeria is battling with the second wave of the pandemic, learners returned to school on January 18 this year. However, the House of Representatives asked the government to postpone the reopening by three months, due to the increasing number of Covid-19 deaths.



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1230667585-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-49958" width="335" height="223" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1230667585-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1230667585-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1230667585-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1230667585-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1230667585-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1230667585-600x400.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 335px) 100vw, 335px" /><figcaption> (Photo by Olukayode Jaiyeola/NurPhoto via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



&#8220;We are particularly concerned that when the infection rates hovered around 500 and under, schools were closed but now that it hovers well above 1,000 infections daily, schools are being reopened. Why are we rushing to reopen schools without adequate verifiable and sustainable arrangements to protect and secure our children?” The House Committee on Basic Education and Services stated in a press release, reported This Day.



SOUTH AFRICA



The government announced on January 15 that schools will remain closed until February 15. This is due to concerns around the country’s more serious second Covid-19 wave. Teachers have had to report to schools at the beginning of February.



At the end of January the country&#8217;s Basic education Minister, Angie Motshekga, indicated in a gazette that the return of students will be staggered. Business Tech further reported that private school pupils will be allowed to return to school two weeks earlier than their public school counterparts.



KENYA



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1230423366-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-49956" width="444" height="295" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1230423366-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1230423366-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1230423366-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1230423366-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1230423366-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1230423366-600x400.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 444px) 100vw, 444px" /><figcaption>. (Photo by Dennis Sigwe/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



Schools in Kenya reopened at the beginning of the year after being closed since March 2020. VOA News reported that Kenya has yet to contain the pandemic and there are concerns among teachers and parents about being exposed to the infection.



ZIMBABWE



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1230436018-1024x678.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-49957" width="267" height="177" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1230436018-1024x678.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1230436018-300x199.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1230436018-768x508.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1230436018-1536x1017.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1230436018-2048x1356.jpg 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GettyImages-1230436018-600x397.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 267px) 100vw, 267px" /><figcaption> (Photo by Tafadzwa Ufumeli/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



At the end of last year, the country announced it would postpone the date schools reopen. Originally, learners were to return on January 4, but a new date would be announced in due course. This, however, is not only due to the pandemic but also coupled with the threat of flooding posed by Cyclone Chalane.



eSWATINI



After eSwatini strengthened its lockdown regulations on January 7, with a spike in Covid-19 cases, Deputy Prime Minister Themba Masuku announced that schools would remain closed indefinitely.



According to the SABC, the President of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers in eSwatini, Mbongwa Dlamini, commended the government for postponing the reopening of schools.



“As a trade union of teachers, we are saying that the government should make sure that before schools are open, the schools should be safe for teaching and learning. So if the schools are not safe for teaching and learning, it is best for the government to wait.”

KENYA-HEALTH-VIRUS-EDUCATION

Covid’s Effects On African Classrooms

As 2021 begins, for the third week in a row, the number of new <a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/en/latest-on-coronavirus-outbreak/for-3rd-week-covid-19-cases-fall-globally-who/2130519">COVID-19 cases globally has fallen</a>.



But over the past year, we have seen countries flatten the curve only to let their guard down. This complacency even found in nations with advanced healthcare systems, costs lives and devastated livelihoods.



While the prospect of vaccines in 2021 provides hope in defeating this virus, UN Secretary-General António Guterres&#8217;s message that &#8216;there is no panacea in a pandemic&#8217; is clear. Robust public health measures centred around the scientifically proven steps that prevent the spread of COVID-19 remain the most practical response. To its credit, China has set a good example by adopting this approach, as I have witnessed firsthand.



As the incoming UN Resident Coordinator to China, I travelled to Guangzhou from Kenya. In Kenya, I served in the same capacity, and as a <a href="https://kenya.un.org/en/107185-these-should-be-our-build-back-better-priorities-2021">UN Country Team in Kenya we joined the Government of Kenya in confronting the pandemic head on</a>.



And in my new role I was not and should not be afforded any preferential treatment on my arrival.



The rules were clear. From the very point of embarking for China, I was subject to the same requirements mandating certificate proof of a negative COVID-19 nucleic acid and IgM antibody test issued no more than two days before travel.



These tests form just part of a comprehensive testing and tracing system found in China, critical to preventing future outbreaks and clusters.



Upon arrival<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/siddharthchatterjee1un_covid19-activity-6756771231833317376-LWNB">, I noted the rigorous and orderly entry screening practices enforced in China</a>, with officials wearing appropriate personal protective equipment as they checked incoming travellers for signs and symptoms.



Like all passengers arriving in China, officials directed me to a designated hotel to complete a 21-day quarantine period.



These inconveniences are necessary to ensure controlling the spread of COVID-19 at the port of entry. I commend these well-orchestrated actions across a range of government departments to ensure the health and safety of the people in China, regardless of nationality is the highest priority.



I began my work in quarantine on 16 January 2021, preparing for my duties as Resident Coordinator and communicating virtually with new colleagues from the UN system in China. I look forward to greeting them in person and forging partnerships with the Government of China, development partners, academia, the private sector and many new and existing stakeholders.



During this, I have managed my time with a sense of purpose, as I kept in touch with loved ones, catching up on reading, writing, and reflecting. This was my first time in quarantine and a rigorous fitness regimen, combined with breathing exercises and a bit of yoga proved to be critical for keeping my mind and body sharp, positively buoyant and in fine fettle. I even managed to clock an average of 20,000 steps a day.



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Sid-Head-Stand-1-768x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-49904" width="515" height="687" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Sid-Head-Stand-1-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Sid-Head-Stand-1-225x300.jpg 225w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Sid-Head-Stand-1-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Sid-Head-Stand-1-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Sid-Head-Stand-1-300x400.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Sid-Head-Stand-1-600x800.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Sid-Head-Stand-1-scaled.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 515px) 100vw, 515px" /><figcaption>The author doing a headstand in his hotel room. Yoga and breathing exercises are a good way to stay fit and achieve equilibrium particularly during quarantine.</figcaption></figure></div>



While I eagerly await the outside world upon the safe completion of this quarantine period on 06 February 2021, I know that the virus is still out there, mutating and turning more aggressive.



Recent COVID-19 outbreaks ahead of the Lunar New Year have alarmed authorities in China, who have responded in kind with proactive and aggressive measures.



Spring travel or &#8216;Chunyun&#8217; to be with families in this special time has been discouraged in certain municipalities in China, which happens to one of the world&#8217;s largest annual migration.



I acknowledge that these responses can place strain on our happiness and well-being, but it is critical that we not lose sight of our goal to defeat the virus.



This task still requires that we do all we can to protect each other. Governments, societies, and individuals everywhere must continue to encourage wearing masks, physically distancing, observing good hygiene etiquette and above all spreading compassion and not the virus.



These actions in unison with strengthening our testing, tracking and isolation systems will ensure our efforts on vaccines are not in vain with their rollout in the coming year.



With simple public health measures informed by science as adopted here in China, the world can slow the virus&#8217;s spread, save lives and livelihoods and end the pandemic.



I look forward to joining the UN family in China and we will continue to work in lockstep with the Government of China to fight COVID-19 and advancing universal health coverage.



Siddharth Chatterjee, 常启德 is the United Nations Resident Coordinator(designate) to China. Follow him on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/@sidchat1">@sidchat1</a>.

Health Checks at the airport

In Prevention Still Lies the Cure: Thoughts On China’s Fight Against COVID-19

Siddharth Chatterjee the UN Resident Coordinator with CS Eugene Wamalwa, Heads of Missions from the United Nations Mission and other development partners visited the Frontier Counties Development Council Counties with a view of leveraging on opportunities considering geographic proximities in addressing shared developmental challenges in the marginalized Counties. Photo Credit- West Pokot County, February 2020



Happy New Year, Kenya.



Several milestones in my personal and professional life have made Kenya a cherished place for me. I started my UNICEF career in Rumbek, South Sudan in June 2000, and my rest and recuperation breaks were in Nairobi. In fact Kenya was the first African country I had ever visited and, frankly, it was love at first sight.



I came back in November 2004 to serve with UNICEF Somalia based out of Nairobi, and in 2006 I got married in Kenya. My son who was 3 years old in 2014, has had his formative years growing up in Kenya, and considers himself Kenyan.



The following year I left to serve in Iraq, and I wondered if I would get an opportunity to return to Kenya. Seven years later, it happened: in April 2014 I came back as the United Nations Population Fund Representative (UNFPA) Representative and in August 2016, I was selected to lead the UN Country Team in Kenya as the UN Resident Coordinator and the UNDP Resident Representative. &nbsp;



Over the years, my bond with the country has been forged through jubilation and the shared suffering of tragedy. I have rejoiced at improvements in many health indicators in counties such as Mandera, Wajir, Garissa, Marsabit, Isiolo and Lamu where an unconscionable number of women used to die in childbirth, but where great progress has been made. I have also mourned in horror at the number of lives lost to terror attacks, the <a href="https://news.trust.org/item/20141202164658-xlpzv/">murder of 36 quarry workers by terrorists in Mandera county</a> (I was in Mandera the same day), the slaughter of innocent students in Garissa University and the dastardly attack at <a href="https://youtu.be/29Ml0evxrCc">Nairobi’s DusitD2 hotel</a>.



The end of my tenure as UN Resident Coordinator to Kenya falls on 13 January 2021, with new experiences and challenges awaiting me as I prepare to take up my next position as the United Nations Resident Coordinator (designate) to China.&nbsp;



This is not the end of my relationship with Kenya, but rather an opportunity to strengthen my ties with the country, and for sharing my knowledge and first hand insights about its great potential. It is also a chance to entrench South-South-Cooperation, a crucial part of the answer to Kenya’s, and more broadly Africa’s, unique opportunities to accelerate growth.



I realize that Kenya still faces formidable challenges, and the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to deepen this even more. Devolution has brought considerable resources and autonomy to counties, and yet lack of capacity, weak financial and regulatory oversight, will continue to hinder efforts to combat the asymmetry of wealth and human prosperity which will be a major obstacle to Kenya’s rise.



I am delighted with the country’s progress towards its Vision 2030 aspirations and the SDGs goals. School enrolment rates are up; more families are accessing maternal and child health services; social, economic and political opportunities for women have increased; major inroads have been made against child marriage and FGM, with President Kenyatta personally leading on this.



My experiences as the UN Resident Coordinator in Kenya have reiterated that by prioritizing investments in women and youth, Africa’s real potential can be unleashed, and I am proud of the support on this that we have been able to provide through the entire UN Kenya Country Team.



By 2030 agri-business will be US$ 1 trillion worth in Africa. Almost two-thirds of Kenya’s population is below the age of 30, and the future of food production rests in their hands. Kenya’s economy is anchored in agriculture, where 70% of the population earns its livelihood.



In most parts of the world, crop yields have grown ahead of population increases, helping to free them from hunger and famine, but not in Africa. We looked for creative and sustainable ways to harness Kenya’s strong internet penetration to exploit information technology that adds value and strengthens the economic appeal of agri-business for young people and creates digital jobs as well.



President Kenyatta&nbsp;<a href="https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/business/2019/11/african-leaders-have-a-duty-to-empower-the-youth-president-kenyatta/">has noted</a> that “the current generation of young people has the potential of expanding Africa’s productive workforce, promoting entrepreneurship and becoming genuine instruments of change to reverse the devastation caused by climate change.”&nbsp;



Africa’s demographic boom has been hailed as its biggest promise for transforming the continent’s economic and social outcomes, but only if the right investments are made to prepare its youthful population for tomorrow’s world. <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/current-affairs/2020/08/03/with-proper-investment-in-youth-kenyas-potential-for-progress-is-unlimited/">Kenya launched the Generation Unlimited initiative spearheaded by the Head of State</a>, and can serve as a blueprint to harness the demographic dividend that Africa’s youth represent.



Women’s empowerment was our other key pursuit, with special emphasis on access to sexual and reproductive health information and services.&nbsp; Without this, Kenya’s population is likely to continue its rapid increase, putting pressure on land and water resources, threatening livelihoods, food security, and straining already weak health systems. Gains made in women’s sexual reproductive health and rights took several steps backward in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic<a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/opinion/2020/04/29/why-reproductive-rights-must-be-a-critical-part-of-our-arsenal-to-fight-pandemics/">.&nbsp;Reproductive rights must be a critical part of our arsenal to fight future pandemics.</a>



It is in Kenya also that I witnessed creative ways of overcoming bureaucracy. Large organisations are often accused of responding too late or with too little in times of crisis, and my tenure saw many. Drought, floods and the worst locust invasion in 70 years, plus the Covid-19 pandemic, all upended much hard-earned progress. As a team however, we went beyond individual UN agency mandates in partnership with the Government of Kenya to quickly establish rapid responses to these emergencies, reducing the socio-economic impact, earning the confidence of the Government and overturning the common perception of the UN as an unwieldy bureaucracy.



The Government’s leadership was meritorious on all counts and that is why <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/opinion/2020/09/30/the-triple-humanitarian-crisis-and-why-kenya-deserves-an-a-in-its-response/">I have stated unequivocally why Kenya deserves an A+ for its response to the triple humanitarian crisis.</a>



I am proud to have been part of many milestones in the partnership between both levels of the Government of Kenya and the UN, and to count on the unfailing support of the leadership of Kenya at all levels of Government. &nbsp;Kenya’s potential is boundless, and the country now offers stronger platforms for new shared-value investments than ever before.



I also express my sincere appreciation to the entire UN family in Kenya, the development partners, our donors and well-wishers and civil society partners and, most of all, the wonderful people of Kenya.&nbsp;



With a firm belief in a common destiny, I intend to keep telling the story of the emerging powerhouse that is Kenya.



My wife, son and I carry Kenya in our hearts.



Thank you for everything. Your generosity, love and friendship is nonpareil.



God Bless, Kenya.



Asante, Kenya, na kwaheri hadi tutakapo kutana tena!

Siddharth Chatterjee with CS Eugene Wamalwa, Heads of Missions from the United Nations Mission and other development partners visited the Frontier Counties Development Council Counties with a view of leveraging on opportunities considering geographic proximities in addressing shared developmental challenges in the marginalized Counties. Photo Credit- West Pokot County, February 2020

Tag: Kenya

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