I have always said that unless Kenyan adopts a strong industrialisation policy based on export- oriented strategies, all the talk about growing the economy will just remain hot air.
If Kenyans think the country will become industrialised through exporting raw coffee , flowers and tourism, they are deceiving themselves.
Raw coffee is firmly controlled by international brokers who fraudulently determine the market prices. Tourism in Kenya is a small game: we only attract low income tourists with little spending powers. Real tourists with real money go to Switzerland.
Practically, all industrialised countries focused on manufacturing and exporting. Heavy technological investments and market protection has made Japan what it is today. The same with S.Korea.
Now, here is where it gets interesting: No whites will buy cars, smart phones and computers manufactured in Africa. Of course you all know why. You can imagine how a Californian would be put off with a smart phone bearing the ‘made in Kenya’ label.
I therefore believe that the African countries that will become industrialised will be those that will focus on manufacturing serious products(cars, phones) specifically targeted for the African market . But the problem is this: Africans, as usual, slight and despise each other. If I can develop a smart phone superior to the Iphone, Kenyans wont buy it simply because ‘Karl Marx is a Kenyan and, well, …I just don’t like things made by Africans’
It’s thus not surprising that we prefer toothpicks from China, pencils from India and eggs from South Africa.
For this reason, Africans are conditioned to be consumers not producers. Importing second hand clothing is BS. There is no real economic growth in land speculations. Our economic growth is normally driven by very unsustainable economic policies and broken capitalism ethics.
When Kenyans will stop worshipping foreigners and their products, you can then start talking about real economic growth.
One serious and locally owned company can change the whole economic outlook of Kenya. Samsung’s revenues is equivalent to 17% of South Korea’s GDP or six times the GDP of Kenya.
The big question is: will Kenyans and other Africans ever trust anything made in Africa?