Spare a thought for these hustlers
The real money makers are not the harvesters who do the donkey work, it’s the transporters and brokers who sell the sand at higher prices.
By X.N. Iraki 5 years ago
Spare a thought for these hustlers
Where will the hustlers live?
Pangani, Ngara, Kinoo, Kikuyu, and other old residential places are slowly shedding off their old image.
By X.N. Iraki 5 years ago
Where will the hustlers live?
Why food and culture are low-lying fruits in tourism
In my most recent visit there, I was fascinated by the long queue of mostly upcountry Kenyans waiting to get a taste of authentic coastal food.
By X.N. Iraki 5 years ago
Why food and culture are low-lying fruits in tourism
Will direct flights to New York be a game changer?
The long wait for direct flights from Kenya to America seems to be finally over.
By X.N. Iraki 5 years ago
Will direct flights to New York be a game changer?
Hustlers, weather and their limited economic choices
This month, Nairobi has been freezing with the sun setting without ever being seen, more like the long dark winters in temperate regions.
By X.N. Iraki 5 years ago
Hustlers, weather and their limited economic choices
There is lots of money in food but…
KDF is a cousin of mandazi and ngumu, both which had ancestors called bread and chapati. Chapati seems to have a cousin called naan or tadoori
By X.N. Iraki 5 years ago
There is lots of money in food but…
The complex economics behind gun ownership
As a Kenyan, I was fascinated to see guns on sale, displayed, not different from the way we display bananas in Kenya...
By X.N. Iraki 6 years ago
 The complex economics behind gun ownership
Why we should spare Nairobi’s leafy suburbs
About three decades ago, I came to Nairobi as an innocent school boy, raw from the countryside. Like many other Kenyans
By X.N. Iraki 6 years ago
Why we should spare Nairobi’s leafy suburbs
Money matters: Forget bottom of the pyramid
Malls are designed for both shopping and entertainment.
By X.N. Iraki 6 years ago
Money matters: Forget bottom of the pyramid
Alarm as women invade men’s last economic frontier…
Golfing is quite an expensive and involving affair. The golf bag, umbrella and other paraphernalia weigh more than 10kgs while a round of the game can take up to four hours.
By X.N. Iraki 6 years ago
Alarm as women invade men’s last economic frontier…
Is freedom an Illusion?
When you get a job, you suddenly realise that freedom depends on your income. You realise it is easier to travel abroad (majuu) in your dreams than in reality.
By X.N. Iraki 6 years ago
Is freedom an Illusion?
The diseconomies of complexity over simplicity
My recent flight to Eldoret through JKIA terminal two left me thinking. This terminal looks temporary but it has all that you need in an airport, from checking-in desk to a waiting room and washrooms.
By X.N. Iraki 6 years ago
The diseconomies of complexity over simplicity
Tracing the rise and rise of behavioural economics
This year’s Nobel Prize in economics went to Richard Thaler for his work on behavioural economics, which borrows heavily from psychology or behavioural sciences.
By X.N. Iraki 6 years ago
Tracing the rise and rise of behavioural economics
Can we be a thankful nation?
Last week, I was a guest in a unique function. The alumni of Kaheho Primary School near Nyahururu decided it was time to say thank you to their mentors and their teachers.
By X.N. Iraki 6 years ago
Can we be a thankful nation?
Beyond cheap unga: Do subsidies really work?
When we distort the market system someone pays the price, usually the taxpayer.
By X.N. Iraki 6 years ago
Beyond cheap unga: Do subsidies really work?
Faceless capitalists prowl on the once dark continent
The new ownership of the region’s most profitable firm will most likely allow access to more markets by Vodacom particularly M-Pesa
By X.N. Iraki 6 years ago
Faceless capitalists prowl on the once dark continent
Is age of sonkorism here sooner than we thought?
Kenyans worship people with money, regardless of how it was acquired.
By X.N. Iraki 6 years ago
Is age of sonkorism here sooner than we thought?
The secrets of Aberdares and the Blue Ocean Strategy
Rumours can be a great source of ideas. For years, persistent rumours of plane wreckage have swirled on the western edge of the Aberdares.
By X.N. Iraki 7 years ago
The secrets of Aberdares and the Blue Ocean Strategy
Nairobi is famous for several reasons, both good and bad
It is the seat of the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep); has a national park teeming with flora and fauna –though this is being eyed by developers who think animals have fewer rights to this planet than we do, yet we all die and the earth finally has its say.
By X.N. Iraki 7 years ago
Nairobi is famous for several reasons, both good and bad
Is depersonalisation now the new norm in Kenya?
The first thing visitors want to know in your house is not your children’s names, but your Wi-Fi password. As they settle on their seats, they also settle on the Net. If there are children, they do the same, instead of playing in the yards. The TV is usually making noise in the background, mostly unnoticed.
By X.N. Iraki 7 years ago
Is depersonalisation now the new norm in Kenya?
Zuckerberg and co attracted to Kenya’s economic enigma but few want to admit
Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook was around. One of his destinations was iHub, an incubator President Uhuru Kenyatta also visited recently.
By X.N. Iraki 7 years ago
Zuckerberg and co attracted to Kenya’s economic enigma but few want to admit
Are our schools the new national dustbins?
Spending more time in school particularly being taught instead of learning is often counterproductive. Kids develop dependency. That is why our kids seem less confident of themselves today than in the past, they are never left on their own to solve problems.
By X.N. Iraki 7 years ago
Are our schools the new national dustbins?
The new threat to Kenyan hotels
Supermarkets’ cooked food attracts hordes of mostly young consumers. In one supermarket, there are queues as early as 10am.
By X.N. Iraki 7 years ago
 The new threat to Kenyan hotels
Who will defend Kenya's intellectual space?
If you go through any project or dissertation written by a Kenyan, in Kenya or elsewhere, what strikes you first is that most of the scholars cited are non-Kenyans, mostly from America and Europe. It does not matter the topic.
By X.N. Iraki 9 years ago
Who will defend Kenya's intellectual space?
Economics is about choice, not money
Economists like complicating an already complicated life with their esoteric equations and graphs. They talk of indifference and utility curves, which, in layman’s language, are about choice and its close associate, happiness.
By X.N. Iraki 9 years ago
Economics is about choice, not money
Thieves fry Kenya's power grid to cook fast food
The morning scene is increasingly routine for Kenyans. When it's time to start the day, the power is already out. Somewhere nearby, the shell of a wrecked electrical transformer lies on its side underneath the pole where it had been fixed 20 feet off the ground.
By X.N. Iraki 9 years ago
Thieves fry Kenya's power grid to cook fast food
Christmas and the petrol station principle
This week, our phones will be inundated with messages of goodwill, never mind that most will be generic and sent to all contacts.
By X.N. Iraki 9 years ago
Christmas and the petrol station principle
Is Women Empowerment good for our economy?
It has been argued that power lost must be gained by someone else. There cannot be power floating somewhere in the air waiting to be grabbed; ask grand coalition members. One of the recent developments in Kenya is women empowerment with some observers arguing that men are losing power gained by women.
By - X.N. Iraki 10 years ago
Is Women Empowerment good for our economy?
How handwriting, lotion served drug trafficker 15 years in jail
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