There used to be a Somali lady who was a matatu driver kule Eastleigh those days. She used to tell critics from her community that’s it’s either that or prostitution, wachague.
Speaking of which, what about the Somali prostitutes who are everywhere. Does that count?
First and foremost Somali women are not astute business wise however they are less lazier than Arab women.
Somali men in Kenya appear to be good in business because of:
porous Somalia borders which enable them to get goods almost for free and as such 100% profits are guaranteed;
piracy when it was at its peak gave them a lot of ill gotten funds which they have ‘cleaned’ through buying flats and businesses;
they pool together their resources primarily because of the nature of Islam…this I greatly admire them for;
they will engage in any illicit business available…they don’t care.
Kenya benefits from money laundering from her war torn neighbours. Their former presidents and politicians their loot will find their way into Kenya after completing their tenure.
It is also how the Indians operate; investing is for their collective benefit but also for the benefit to the children unborn.
We have a history of the “Chamas” which are very successful, usually for the benefit of the groups. In reality we already have the foundations, we also have a spirit of harambee, all we need is to slightly re-educate the thinking, rather than distributing the money, empower the chama/groups to convert into powerful investment units. The Somalis and Indians don’t re-distribute their collective money they invest the money.
Haha, I see niggas here have taken copious amounts of that Somali Kool-Aid. It’s a fact that these business minded, so called “native kenyan somalis” only started appearing after the Somali civil war. Didn’t Kenya have a Somali population in the former Northern Frontier District? Where was their business acumen before the civil war? I’d bet my left nut that up to 90% of Somalis in Eastleigh are not legal, the ones who have documents have obtained them through corruption. If they’re so good at business, and are soo united, why is their country still a wartorn shithole? Why is it that they’ve failed to replicate this unity in their own country? If they were so good, Somalia would easily be the largest economy in East Africa. Oh, I know, Somalia’s neighbors have been working overtime to destabilise the country, coz they’re afraid of a strong, united Somalia…give me a break!!
I’ll tell you why Somalis are so “successful” in Kenya. Part of it has to do with their ability to pool resources, as @spear has put it. Instead of everyone importing their bundle, they come together and save costs by importing the several small bundles as one container. But this is not Quantum Physics, any serious chamaa in Kenya can achieve this…that only represents a very small portion of their success. The biggest portion of that success comes from engaging in money laundering, tax evasion and corruption. They’ve infiltrated KRA, immigration, interior ministry and countless other government agencies. Obviously if I’m a rich Somali and bribe the agencies, then import my goods without paying taxes, then sell the same goods at discounted rates to fellow Somali distributors and wholesalers at cheaper rates, it goes without saying that the Somali retailer will also sell it at a cheaper price to the consumer. Then everyone will marvel at how “enterprising” the average Somali businessman is.
I’ll tell you something. There’s nothing special that Somalis produce. They import and resell. Again, not Quantum Physics. In fact, I can confidently state that if a right wing, Nationalist government came to power and ordered them out of the country, the Kenyan economy would feel nothing. Other traders would quickly fill the gap. Sure, we would pay slightly more for our products, but overall, in the long term, the economy would gain from higher tax collection, lower rent and lower inflation.
Then there was another,wa around 2007…2008. Wakatu mat za isich na buru buru ndio kusema. She was a driverwa mat noma sana ya isich. Alikua anaendesha na buibui