Do the Kenyan hustle and the Nigerian hip twirl
April 14, 2016 10:47 AM   Subscribe

“Many of the Africans entrepreneurs I encounter represent the elite of their society,” Burfield told me. “They have received world-class educations, but aren’t interested in following in the family business. When combined with members of the African diaspora starting to return home, and ex-pats looking for the big new problems to tackle, most people would be amazed by how many entrepreneurs I encounter in Africa did their undergrad in great institutions around the world, or are self-taught from online courses and hackathons here. These are world-class entrepreneurs.
posted by infini (7 comments total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
This is really interesting. Thanks for posting! I spent two weeks in Kenya in October at a surgical camp in Malindi (with these folks, sorry the website is so scant, I am working on a more detailed site). We concentrated on underserved populations, and even so, it seemed like every patient had at least one family member with a phone, so we could text/air-drop pictures and provide links to resources to better understand their conditions, and a lot of them wanted to take selfies with us for Facebook. Meanwhile, the power went out in the hospital at least once a day, and our hotel had to switch the showers to salt water from the Indian Ocean because there was a pretty serious water shortage. It was really a strange juxtaposition.
posted by joannemerriam at 11:44 AM on April 14, 2016 [1 favorite]


Fascinating article. Thanks.
posted by 2N2222 at 11:48 AM on April 14, 2016


I've been deeply impressed by the scholars I've recently met from Kenya, too. They outpace many of the Americans I went to grad school with in their reflectiveness -- and the one I spoke with most recently, who had read as broadly as some of my most thoughtful professors, was educated *entirely within Kenya.*

Large parts of my job these days consist of being humbled by the tremendous efforts of people around the world who get scant recognition for the hard work they do.
posted by gusandrews at 6:24 PM on April 14, 2016 [1 favorite]


mPesa, the cash-texting service created by mobile provider Safaricom, is used by more than two-thirds of Kenyans daily, and represents 42 percent of the entire GDP
Wow...just ... wow
posted by adamvasco at 7:28 PM on April 14, 2016


Whenever I'm in Nairobi, I tend to find myself wallowing in the entrepreneurialism rampant in the air. Like now. Its like living in less developed parts of Europe, and frankly, its ahead of India in quality of life. I'm getting an M-Pesa account next week.
posted by infini at 12:22 AM on April 15, 2016


Cheese is expensive and the local stuff is helpless against the european imports.
posted by infini at 12:24 AM on April 15, 2016


Large parts of my job these days consist of being humbled by the tremendous efforts of people around the world who get scant recognition for the hard work they do.

Yesterday I was in a group discussion as part of the internal screening for an independent project lead to envision a dearly held dream. A gentleman in his late 50s or 60s asked me to pretend that material we had submitted to the team from our research was actually sent by him. I was like WTF dude, which planet are you on?

Recognition of professional status is the key that needs turning.
posted by infini at 12:27 AM on April 15, 2016


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