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Why Kenyan economy is doing very well. Informal survey
Rank: Elder Joined: 1/8/2018 Posts: 2,212 Location: DC (Dustbowl County)
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Sitting here in this nice upscale coffee house in DC (dust bowl county i. e. Kajiado County for those still in the dark), sipping my mocha and surfing the free Wi-Fi fuaaaaa I cannot help but see that the Kenyan economy is definitely on the boom and here is the reason why.
First of all this place is packed to capacity. Hata seating space is so limited that for the first time ever I am forced to share a booth with three other youngsters. The place is filled with prosperous looking yuppies spending big. All are tech wired, with gleaming smart phones being swiped away and laptops with incubator logos on them. This place is no different from Lavington or TRM or any other place where the middle classes like to gather to exchange ideas, work on things or just unwind in between earning and living.
Ten to 15 years ago this was not the case. A coffee house like this would not be found in dust bowl. All you would find is dilapidated dusty buildings and little else. Now world class glitzy malls are opening like horses bolting for a lucrative finish line. Sijui Kitengela Mall, sijui Signature Mall, sijui Crystal Rivers Mall and several more. But back to my table...
The sharply dressed baby faced youngsters in my booth look no older than 23-25 years old. They are speaking Greek IMHO...rapid fire talk about coding and algorithms and other tech fare that make the computer classes I took in first year uni seem obsolete. Their voices are animated and excited with boundless confidence and optimism. No politics here. Just taking their destiny into their own hands.
The swelling middle classes of Kenya are now untamed and there is no holding them back. The numbers don't lie. Domestic tourism cannot be contained any more. Hotels are full, Bonfire adventures and other companies have made Croesus like fortunes and won global awards from catering to the needs of the sprawling middle classes.
In the real estate industry, the clientele is getting younger and younger each year. Gone are the days when homes and plots were sold only to doddering old tea and coffee bonus farmers. I went to a site a few months ago and found a comically young guy putting final touches to his beautiful maisonette in the ClayWorks area. His occupation? A content producer for a local media company. These guys are Kenya's future.
Even among the lower middle classes and below, the changes -albeit slow - have been remarkable as the middle class rising tide lifts all boats. They are better clothed, better fed and better housed. The place I stay for example has a gardener who moonlights by washing cars for the residents for 200 Bob a pop. I counted the other day and based on the number of cars he washes, he easily scrapes about 3000 a day net, 7 days a week.
Is it any wonder then that he is building a modest bungalow in Rongai? What about hawkers? Those guys are doing very well for themselves. What about flower and tree sellers by the roadside. I once dropped about 2k picking up plants and flowers from a chap on a major highway in Nairobi. Imagine my shock when he pulled out a thick bunda of notes from his pocket while giving me change. Kenyans of all classes who are enterprising and are not waiting for a handout are all getting ahead at rapid clip.
This is what inspires confidence in the future of the economy despite the small challenges here and there that all nations on earth face, and the GDP growth numbers corroborate this.
As I take my last sip of mocha getting ready to leave, the Greek on my table continues. The coffee shop is still packed to capacity. The aroma of freshly baked cakes, coffee, chapati and avocado salads waft deliciously in the air. We have a beautiful country, my friends. Let's put in the work and the future is ours.
Shalom.
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Rank: Elder Joined: 9/23/2009 Posts: 8,083 Location: Enk are Nyirobi
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MugundaMan wrote:Sitting here in this nice upscale coffee house in DC (dust bowl county i. e. Kajiado County for those still in the dark), sipping my mocha and surfing the free Wi-Fi fuaaaaa I cannot help but see that the Kenyan economy is definitely on the boom and here is the reason why.
First of all this place is packed to capacity. Hata seating space is so limited that for the first time ever I am forced to share a booth with three other youngsters. The place is filled with prosperous looking yuppies spending big. All are tech wired, with gleaming smart phones being swiped away and laptops with incubator logos on them. This place is no different from Lavington or TRM or any other place where the middle classes like to gather to exchange ideas, work on things or just unwind in between earning and living.
Ten to 15 years ago this was not the case. A coffee house like this would not be found in dust bowl. All you would find is dilapidated dusty buildings and little else. Now world class glitzy malls are opening like horses bolting for a lucrative finish line. Sijui Kitengela Mall, sijui signature mall and several more. But back to my table.
The sharply dressed baby faced youngsters in my booth look no older than 23-25 years old. They are speaking Greek IMHO...rapid fire talk about coding and algorithms and other tech fare that make the compute classes I took in first year uni seem obsolete. Their voices are animated and excited with boundless confidence and optimism. No politics here. Just taking their destiny into their own hands.
The swelling middle classes of Kenya are now untamed and there is no holding them back. The numbers don't lie. Domestic tourism cannot be contained any more. Hotels are full, Bonfire adventures and other companies have made Croesus like fortunes and won global awards from catering to the needs of the sprawling middle classes.
In the real estate industry, the clientele is getting younger and younger each year. Gone are the days when homes and plots were sold only to doddering old tea and coffee bonus farmers. I went to a site a few months ago and found a comically young guy putting final touches to his beautiful maisonette in the ClayWorks area. His occupation? A content producer for a local media company. These guys are Kenya's future.
Even among the lower middle classes and below, the changes -albeit slow - have been remarkable as the middle class rising tide lifts all boats. They are better clothed, better fed and better housed. The place I stay for example has a gardener who moonlights by washing cars for the residents for 200 Bob a pop. I counted the other day and based on the number of cars he washes, he easily scrapes about 3000 a day net, 7 days a week.
Is it any wonder then that he is building a modest bungalow in Rongai? What about hawkers? Those guys are doing very well for themselves. What about flower and tree sellers by the roadside. I once dropped about 2k picking up plants and flowers from a chap on a major highway in Nairobi. Imagine my shock when he pulled out a thick bunda of notes from his pocket while giving me change. Kenyans of all classes who are enterprising and are not waiting for a handout are all getting ahead at rapid clip.
This is what inspires confidence in the future of the economy despite the small challenges here and there that all nations on earth face, and the GDP growth numbers corroborate this.
As I take my last sip of mocha getting ready to leave, the Greek on my table continues. The coffee shop is still lacked to capacity. The aroma of freshly baked cakes, coffee, chapati and avocado salads waft deliciously in the air. We have a beautiful country, my friends. Let's put in the work and the future is ours.
Shalom. Cool narrative, good encouragement. Life is short. Live passionately.
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Rank: Elder Joined: 2/16/2007 Posts: 2,114
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@Mugundaman, you should have posted some pics? Guys might say you were dreaming...
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Rank: Member Joined: 3/8/2018 Posts: 507 Location: Nairobi
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sparkly wrote:MugundaMan wrote:Sitting here in this nice upscale coffee house in DC (dust bowl county i. e. Kajiado County for those still in the dark), sipping my mocha and surfing the free Wi-Fi fuaaaaa I cannot help but see that the Kenyan economy is definitely on the boom and here is the reason why.
First of all this place is packed to capacity. Hata seating space is so limited that for the first time ever I am forced to share a booth with three other youngsters. The place is filled with prosperous looking yuppies spending big. All are tech wired, with gleaming smart phones being swiped away and laptops with incubator logos on them. This place is no different from Lavington or TRM or any other place where the middle classes like to gather to exchange ideas, work on things or just unwind in between earning and living.
Ten to 15 years ago this was not the case. A coffee house like this would not be found in dust bowl. All you would find is dilapidated dusty buildings and little else. Now world class glitzy malls are opening like horses bolting for a lucrative finish line. Sijui Kitengela Mall, sijui signature mall and several more. But back to my table.
The sharply dressed baby faced youngsters in my booth look no older than 23-25 years old. They are speaking Greek IMHO...rapid fire talk about coding and algorithms and other tech fare that make the compute classes I took in first year uni seem obsolete. Their voices are animated and excited with boundless confidence and optimism. No politics here. Just taking their destiny into their own hands.
The swelling middle classes of Kenya are now untamed and there is no holding them back. The numbers don't lie. Domestic tourism cannot be contained any more. Hotels are full, Bonfire adventures and other companies have made Croesus like fortunes and won global awards from catering to the needs of the sprawling middle classes.
In the real estate industry, the clientele is getting younger and younger each year. Gone are the days when homes and plots were sold only to doddering old tea and coffee bonus farmers. I went to a site a few months ago and found a comically young guy putting final touches to his beautiful maisonette in the ClayWorks area. His occupation? A content producer for a local media company. These guys are Kenya's future.
Even among the lower middle classes and below, the changes -albeit slow - have been remarkable as the middle class rising tide lifts all boats. They are better clothed, better fed and better housed. The place I stay for example has a gardener who moonlights by washing cars for the residents for 200 Bob a pop. I counted the other day and based on the number of cars he washes, he easily scrapes about 3000 a day net, 7 days a week.
Is it any wonder then that he is building a modest bungalow in Rongai? What about hawkers? Those guys are doing very well for themselves. What about flower and tree sellers by the roadside. I once dropped about 2k picking up plants and flowers from a chap on a major highway in Nairobi. Imagine my shock when he pulled out a thick bunda of notes from his pocket while giving me change. Kenyans of all classes who are enterprising and are not waiting for a handout are all getting ahead at rapid clip.
This is what inspires confidence in the future of the economy despite the small challenges here and there that all nations on earth face, and the GDP growth numbers corroborate this.
As I take my last sip of mocha getting ready to leave, the Greek on my table continues. The coffee shop is still lacked to capacity. The aroma of freshly baked cakes, coffee, chapati and avocado salads waft deliciously in the air. We have a beautiful country, my friends. Let's put in the work and the future is ours.
Shalom. Cool narrative, good encouragement. Taxman is racking his brain wondering how to get to that flower guy 
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Rank: Member Joined: 12/22/2015 Posts: 224 Location: Mombasa, Kenya
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rwitre wrote:sparkly wrote:MugundaMan wrote:Sitting here in this nice upscale coffee house in DC (dust bowl county i. e. Kajiado County for those still in the dark), sipping my mocha and surfing the free Wi-Fi fuaaaaa I cannot help but see that the Kenyan economy is definitely on the boom and here is the reason why.
First of all this place is packed to capacity. Hata seating space is so limited that for the first time ever I am forced to share a booth with three other youngsters. The place is filled with prosperous looking yuppies spending big. All are tech wired, with gleaming smart phones being swiped away and laptops with incubator logos on them. This place is no different from Lavington or TRM or any other place where the middle classes like to gather to exchange ideas, work on things or just unwind in between earning and living.
Ten to 15 years ago this was not the case. A coffee house like this would not be found in dust bowl. All you would find is dilapidated dusty buildings and little else. Now world class glitzy malls are opening like horses bolting for a lucrative finish line. Sijui Kitengela Mall, sijui signature mall and several more. But back to my table.
The sharply dressed baby faced youngsters in my booth look no older than 23-25 years old. They are speaking Greek IMHO...rapid fire talk about coding and algorithms and other tech fare that make the compute classes I took in first year uni seem obsolete. Their voices are animated and excited with boundless confidence and optimism. No politics here. Just taking their destiny into their own hands.
The swelling middle classes of Kenya are now untamed and there is no holding them back. The numbers don't lie. Domestic tourism cannot be contained any more. Hotels are full, Bonfire adventures and other companies have made Croesus like fortunes and won global awards from catering to the needs of the sprawling middle classes.
In the real estate industry, the clientele is getting younger and younger each year. Gone are the days when homes and plots were sold only to doddering old tea and coffee bonus farmers. I went to a site a few months ago and found a comically young guy putting final touches to his beautiful maisonette in the ClayWorks area. His occupation? A content producer for a local media company. These guys are Kenya's future.
Even among the lower middle classes and below, the changes -albeit slow - have been remarkable as the middle class rising tide lifts all boats. They are better clothed, better fed and better housed. The place I stay for example has a gardener who moonlights by washing cars for the residents for 200 Bob a pop. I counted the other day and based on the number of cars he washes, he easily scrapes about 3000 a day net, 7 days a week.
Is it any wonder then that he is building a modest bungalow in Rongai? What about hawkers? Those guys are doing very well for themselves. What about flower and tree sellers by the roadside. I once dropped about 2k picking up plants and flowers from a chap on a major highway in Nairobi. Imagine my shock when he pulled out a thick bunda of notes from his pocket while giving me change. Kenyans of all classes who are enterprising and are not waiting for a handout are all getting ahead at rapid clip.
This is what inspires confidence in the future of the economy despite the small challenges here and there that all nations on earth face, and the GDP growth numbers corroborate this.
As I take my last sip of mocha getting ready to leave, the Greek on my table continues. The coffee shop is still lacked to capacity. The aroma of freshly baked cakes, coffee, chapati and avocado salads waft deliciously in the air. We have a beautiful country, my friends. Let's put in the work and the future is ours.
Shalom. Cool narrative, good encouragement. Taxman is racking his brain wondering how to get to that flower guy This runaway consumerism by a generation that is not afraid to borrow is not an indicator of economic boom. Its like our government borrowing to finance everything- then calls it development. We are digging financial holes that our children will stumble into. Beneficiaries of this chaos are Tala, Branch, Mshwari, KCBMpesa and other well positioned shylocks. And yes, the bonfires, Javas, and fancy clubs that provide platforms to flaunt this borrowed lifestyle are making a killing Start!
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Rank: Veteran Joined: 8/30/2007 Posts: 1,558 Location: Nairobi
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Metch wrote:rwitre wrote:sparkly wrote:MugundaMan wrote:Sitting here in this nice upscale coffee house in DC (dust bowl county i. e. Kajiado County for those still in the dark), sipping my mocha and surfing the free Wi-Fi fuaaaaa I cannot help but see that the Kenyan economy is definitely on the boom and here is the reason why.
First of all this place is packed to capacity. Hata seating space is so limited that for the first time ever I am forced to share a booth with three other youngsters. The place is filled with prosperous looking yuppies spending big. All are tech wired, with gleaming smart phones being swiped away and laptops with incubator logos on them. This place is no different from Lavington or TRM or any other place where the middle classes like to gather to exchange ideas, work on things or just unwind in between earning and living.
Ten to 15 years ago this was not the case. A coffee house like this would not be found in dust bowl. All you would find is dilapidated dusty buildings and little else. Now world class glitzy malls are opening like horses bolting for a lucrative finish line. Sijui Kitengela Mall, sijui signature mall and several more. But back to my table.
The sharply dressed baby faced youngsters in my booth look no older than 23-25 years old. They are speaking Greek IMHO...rapid fire talk about coding and algorithms and other tech fare that make the compute classes I took in first year uni seem obsolete. Their voices are animated and excited with boundless confidence and optimism. No politics here. Just taking their destiny into their own hands.
The swelling middle classes of Kenya are now untamed and there is no holding them back. The numbers don't lie. Domestic tourism cannot be contained any more. Hotels are full, Bonfire adventures and other companies have made Croesus like fortunes and won global awards from catering to the needs of the sprawling middle classes.
In the real estate industry, the clientele is getting younger and younger each year. Gone are the days when homes and plots were sold only to doddering old tea and coffee bonus farmers. I went to a site a few months ago and found a comically young guy putting final touches to his beautiful maisonette in the ClayWorks area. His occupation? A content producer for a local media company. These guys are Kenya's future.
Even among the lower middle classes and below, the changes -albeit slow - have been remarkable as the middle class rising tide lifts all boats. They are better clothed, better fed and better housed. The place I stay for example has a gardener who moonlights by washing cars for the residents for 200 Bob a pop. I counted the other day and based on the number of cars he washes, he easily scrapes about 3000 a day net, 7 days a week.
Is it any wonder then that he is building a modest bungalow in Rongai? What about hawkers? Those guys are doing very well for themselves. What about flower and tree sellers by the roadside. I once dropped about 2k picking up plants and flowers from a chap on a major highway in Nairobi. Imagine my shock when he pulled out a thick bunda of notes from his pocket while giving me change. Kenyans of all classes who are enterprising and are not waiting for a handout are all getting ahead at rapid clip.
This is what inspires confidence in the future of the economy despite the small challenges here and there that all nations on earth face, and the GDP growth numbers corroborate this.
As I take my last sip of mocha getting ready to leave, the Greek on my table continues. The coffee shop is still lacked to capacity. The aroma of freshly baked cakes, coffee, chapati and avocado salads waft deliciously in the air. We have a beautiful country, my friends. Let's put in the work and the future is ours.
Shalom. Cool narrative, good encouragement. Taxman is racking his brain wondering how to get to that flower guy This runaway consumerism by a generation that is not afraid to borrow is not an indicator of economic boom. Its like our government borrowing to finance everything- then calls it development. We are digging financial holes that our children will stumble into. Beneficiaries of this chaos are Tala, Branch, Mshwari, KCBMpesa and other well positioned shylocks. And yes, the bonfires, Javas, and fancy clubs that provide platforms to flaunt this borrowed lifestyle are making a killing 1. Incase you haven’t noticed, people aren’t getting loans as readily as before. So there goes that theory of borrowed money 2. These areas are popular with airport staff, I know a lot of KQ employees live in this suburbia. So not highly unlikely what MM is saying.
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Rank: Hello Joined: 12/29/2018 Posts: 8 Location: Russian Federation, Moscow
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Kenya was always rich region of whole African continent itself, it's major destination for any Africa tourist tours in probably every country of the world. Being a foreigner I like that. It all smells like a ton of opportunities for me. And glad to see wars are leaving continent it seems;)
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Rank: Elder Joined: 1/8/2018 Posts: 2,212 Location: DC (Dustbowl County)
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Mugundaman wrote:For those who struggle to understand the difference between GDP and GNI, the meaning of Debt-To-GDP etc, here is a simple set of informal criteria to look for in order to understand that the Kenyan economy is irredemably red hawtt:
- Buildings under construction per street. I have already explained this many times before. The more there are in an economy, the more red Hawtt it is.
- Number of slayqueens: self explanatory
- Number of capital goods vehicles ( tippers, trailers with containers, Miguu kumis, tractors, excavators, bulldozers, pick ups etc) - which add to the productive capacity of the nation -on the streets. In Jewel in the Crown (Kitengela) you might be shocked to observe that every third vehicle is one of these.
- The number of American diet outlets that have invaded the economy. KFC and Burger King do not land on any Third World countries that do not have a significant and sustainable middle class mass
- The number of fat people in the slums. Yes, obesity may be a disease of the poor in the West, but in a developing economy it shows how far an economy has moved away from basic food needs. A fat person in the slums is obviously food secure even if they may still be looking for employment
- The number of new cars on the road. Despite massive investments in infrastructure, the cars keep multiplying with no end in sight
- Rapidly rising home ownership levels. Owning ones own home is the cornerstone to wealth building, financial and emotional security. The average middle class Nairobian owns their own home and I am not talking members of payslip nation
-Gambling nation. Signals massive amounts of free cash swirling around the economy.
- Swelling KRA revenues which leads to swelling budgets which leads to a swelling economy in a juicy spiral that is good for all
- Floods of highly educated youths looking for jobs. Yes, university is the ladder for all to ascend to the middle class. A smart graduate is one who creates a job for themselves if they can't find one. Those who spend their lives dreaming that another human being or government entity owes them a job simply because they are smart and have a degree are doomed to airtight poverty while marking time in the same spot
- News stories become micro vs macro as increasingly affluent economy wants no one left behind. Ivy Wangechi and Jowie become news stories. This would be unthinkable in impoverished nyayo 80s or 90s. This is a mark of all prosperous economies
- flood of inward immigrants. Burundian, south Sudanese, Ethiopians, Ugandans, drc'rs etc. This is inevitable in a dominant economy. There is a reason Nigerians are flooding Thika road suburbs and refusing to go back to Enugu.
- Western FDI flooding in with force. Your economy isn't red hot until Google, Oracle and counting all make your capital the continentwide hq of their outfits
- street kids on glue with Nike sneakers. Dirty or not.
- Lottery winning of millions of dollars
- Diasporans start leaving the West in droves given opportunities and amenities are getting better than even in the West slowly but surely.
Ni Hiyo Maoni yangu tu. From the Kenya Economy watch thread. And I forgot to add these ones. - Every third shop is a hardware or construction related store in DC - Excavators lined up waiting for customers in the Kitengela CBD - Dust is now being swept and put in bags daily by staff in Jewel in the Crown (DC) . - Beggars who have smartphones . I kid you not. I saw this while waking down Tom Mboya Street today. Frirenn, karibu Kenya! -
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Rank: Elder Joined: 7/28/2015 Posts: 9,562 Location: Rodi Kopany, Homa Bay
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You only have to visit Africa's premier real estate website www.property24.com and you will see that its only Kenya that has the most recent and interesting properties. SA, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia, TZ etc are stuck in history, the real estate being traded is colonial, very old. Meaning that our economy is red hawt as @mugundaman aka @KijanaFupiAmenonaAllroundMulumulwas terms it, and construction is everywhere.
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Rank: Elder Joined: 11/5/2010 Posts: 2,459
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@mugundaman, you really should get a PR job with Jubilee.
Between 2003 and 2013, kitengela created more millionaires per square KM than any other place in Kenya.
Then the jubilee curse happened.
Today, two of our cement manufacturers are down. EAPCC and ARM. And yet, the remaining players are reporting depressed sales. We have recorded the lowest cement consumption in a decade. But maybe the houses you are talking about are utilizing new tech that doesn't need cement.
Sale of land. All those companies that were making money buying and subdividing plots for sale are all in the red. Urithi,optiven, PRC, username. Let's not talk about Gakuyo. Even big saccos like safcom and stima are stuck with land they can't sell. A friend has been trying to sell a plot behind KAG university for a year now.
Houses for sale. Can I take you for a drive tommorow. We start at mlolongo behind the signature mall, then behind tuffoam and London distillers. There are over 2,000 complete houses in this area alone that have remained unsold for several years now. Funny safaricom pension fund is building another 600 units in the same area. Some developers even closed the on-site sales office. Some have been putting curtains on the houses to give a false impression of occupation.
All property developers who thrived under Kibaki are in the red. But in a twisted stroke of luck, the banks can't auction them because there are no buyers. Think of any developer, type their name on Google and chances are you will be reading about a court case with a bank.
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