Towards a Bon Appetit Economy

Published on 20th March 2007

I recently played host to a forum that brought together 60 African and 72 Western scholars, focusing on the institutional framework for Africa's development. Professional presentations aside, one of my guests made a very interesting observation about 'African time'.

Said she: 'Africans have elastic time, five minutes could mean one hour, for instance, when somebody in Africa tells you he will see you in five minutes; he will actually be still heading to the lift to get to his car which might take forty five minutes to destination.'

Sounds familiar? Suppose in your daily transactions, you woke up to a day where your Ksh 1000 bill translates to Ksh 200 bill in the shop or the Ksh 1000 price tag in the super market translates to Ksh 5,000 at the cashier’s desk. Picture a situation where you are entitled to Ksh 5000 as salary, but you end up receiving Ksh 1,000 or vice versa. A situation where the value of money stated is not what one receives; Kenyan courts would be clogged with litigations.

The majority of Kenyans seem comfortable with 'elastic time' but will run riotous if one was to make the money as 'elastic' as our sense of time. The element of elasticity does not stop only on 'time.’ Just how many political promises have been made to Kenyans since independence? How many of us measure distances in vague terms, such as ‘from one hill to the next’ as opposed to the accurate distance? What about food? ‘It is a taboo to measure food,’ some will argue.

Cultural interaction with other societies have led to the quest for us to seek to develop hence the much publicized Millennium Development Goals and Vision 2030, but we seem to miss the most basic items that drive a country towards development: the attitude of her people.

We do not expect to measure the 'civility' of a Kenyan by whether he can pronounce bon appetit accurately when we know that only a culture of plenty can afford the luxury to wish each other 'big appetite' or 'enjoy your meal.'

In other words, we must push towards high productivity among our people and the rest will follow. While participating in a science and technology forum for young leaders, I was struck by the enthusiasm of our upcoming leaders to invent airplanes, mobile phones, new car models and computers. In the same forum, a senior government official was lamenting on the global realities of lack of donor funding towards issues of interest to Kenya and by extension Africa. Where ought we to do to get Kenya on the path of productivity?

We must teach our youth that innovations ought to respond to our needs. It's only through responding to an existing need that entrepreneurs can pick up whatever innovation and commercialize it. If the Kenyan government decided to invest billions of shillings towards inventing a new car (Remember Nyayo Pioneer 1?), while ignoring the fact that the Kenyan highways are already clogged with Toyotas', it will simply be sending bright minds back to the dark ages. But suppose the same government set aside billions of shillings for Kenyan innovators to address day to day challenges that range from dirty water, lack of water, food, nutrition, traffic jams, telecommunication, road and air transport infrastructure, innovators would spring up and introduce such ideas as 'cement roads', 'fruit salad dishes', rural area friendly fridges to ensure people purchase chicken in pieces, emails on cell phone and solar energy supply.

Entrepreneurs in turn will seek to commercialize such innovations and create wealth for themselves and the country. But what will happen if our understanding of innovations remains glued to what we watch in the movies or see when we travel abroad?

Truth be told, a motor vehicle comprises of hundreds of little patented innovations. It is not wise to get some gentleman from Kitale (Western Kenya) or Nyeri (Central Kenya) to be 'encouraged' to reproduce a new car or air plane for Kenya. Whatever we hold dear today started as crude innovations. A good example is the computer, from a house-sized block to lap top and palm computers. Our youth must respond to the needs surrounding them and perfect their innovations to meet global standards.

This article first appeared in the Business Daily published by the Nation Media Group


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