Innovation can take us to the next frontier

Year 2015 was tough for businesses and majority of Kenyans, particularly the middle, low-income earners and the many others who have increasingly found it difficult to get suitable employment.

Going by the numerous profit warnings issued by companies listed at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) and the retrenchments going on, it is not hard to tell that the economic atmosphere is not that good.

So what to do? We certainly need a lot of attention on economic management and this includes killing corruption and creating and spurring existing industries. I am impressed by the high number of Kenyans who have been employed to offer telecommunications services such money transfers and to sell phones. Many young people have also got jobs as boda boda riders (notwithstanding the indiscipline in the industry).

There is a lesson from this: Changing the nation’s economic paradigm can spur a lot of industries that can take in more people. As we speak, the Information Communication Technology can only grow bigger and create more opportunities. The same applies to tourism if we sort out the many hiccups to the trade in terms of security and infrastructure.

There is also a big room for growth in production and export of manufactured goods. If intra-Africa trade is streamlined, Kenya and many African countries stand to grow exponentially.

The manufacturing sector in Kenya and in Africa has a huge opportunity to tap into, going by the changes in the global economic dynamics. The prevailing conditions are not far from what China foresaw and exploited to become the global manufacturing hub. We cannot continue to casually approach issues and assume that our problems, such as massive and growing unemployment and poverty levels, will just go away. Nor will our casual style of conducting politics, which are is on tribalism and exploiting the ignorant masses, take us anywhere.

At times I get the feeling that we expect too much. We vote and play to the same political myopia and expect things to improve. They can’t. Well, so much start with politics. Without the right political atmosphere and leadership, expect a nation to stagnate. It took the leadership of Deng Xiaoping for China to change course from the devastating rustiness it was in.

Both Jubilee and CORD in their pre-2013 election took cognisance of the fact that massive economic re-engineering is required for Kenya to prosper. Hopefully, before the 2017 election there will be greater thinking on how to get Kenya out of the minuscule economic space it occupies in the globe and also spur industries to create wealth and employment.

The challenge, however, has been in implementing of the glittering blueprints and the evils that encumber Kenya top of them being corruption and tribalism.

But all is not lost for Kenya. We can start by aggressively cracking down on these twin evils and other challenges that drag us down. We need to set a new culture of selfless service and rewarding hard work and entrepreneurship.

Giving rewards to talent, those who push hard and those who are innovative to make us great will inspire a whole new generation that will make Kenya great.

The problem is we have been operating in milieus that have been rewarding crooks; those who abuse office and voracious greed. This is a great disincentive to honest work and discipline. But we will overcome one day.

This type of situation has not worked and will never work in favour of any country. Having realised this, this is the time to create the right paradigm for growth and development.