One of the biggest supporters, fans and mentors to Sticks & Stones is a friend of ours, Fred. Fred has built a great business through hard work, charm, morals and principles that are enviable. He is also an amazing storyteller. This he chalks down to the trials and tribulations he has gone through in life. A few months ago, we were having a chat when he delved into one of his stories from his childhood.

Growing up in a small village in a far-flung part of the country, Fred’s best friend was a guy nicknamed Kazungu (literally translating to ‘a bit of a white man’) arising from the fact that he was an albino. While in secondary school, Kazungu landed a job that was obviously very well paying but he was not at ease to discuss exactly what it was with Fred. He would disappear on Friday afternoon and reappear on Sunday evening with ‘smiling pockets’ as Fred puts it. One day, while visiting an aunt in a village four times removed from his own, Fred stumbled upon an interesting finding.

The village was emblazoned with evangelical posters, announcing that the great man of God from the United States of America was gracing the village with an evangelical crusade on Saturday and Sunday. The blind would be healed, the lame would walk and souls would be saved. Upon inspecting the posters, who would this great man of God happen to be? None other than Kazungu. He was decked out in a suit carrying a massive Bible and looking quite evangelical. Fred made up his mind to go to this crusade and witness this transformation for himself.

On the material day, the local village grounds were bursting at the seams with believers and soon-to-be believers despite the scorching sun. Perched up on the dais was Kazungu. Mercifully, he had a wide hat and sunglasses to keep the sun out. After all the singing and dancing for the Lord, after the first round of preachers was done evangelising, the guest preacher was welcomed onto the podium. Being a ‘foreigner’ who could not speak the local tongue, he had a translator with him. He would speak his nasal tongue and the translator would translate. The crowds were going wild, the ‘spirit’ was moving them. Eventually, those who wished to give their souls to Christ were asked to go up so that the man of God would put his hands on them.

Curious to get a closer look at ‘the man of God’, Fred made his way to the podium. Several people ahead of him had their souls redeemed and some even had evil spirits cast out. Eventually, it was Fred’s turn. As soon as Kazungu saw him, his eyes went wide behind the sunglasses, he swore loudly (in vernacular it is crucial to point out) and he promptly fainted. When he came to, he took off at a great speed and vanished into the distance; suit, Bible, free hat and all.

Now this story would seem very far-fetched (and Fred is known for webbing stories, no doubt) except for the fact that we have actually met Kazungu as they remain firm friends and they joke about his time as an ambassador for Christ. What does all this have to do with business? I hear you ask. A lot, if not everything.

There are ‘entrepreneurs’, CEOs, founders, managing directors everywhere.

The one thing that all visitors to Nairobi seem to agree on is that there are a lot of talented, brilliant, enterprising young people in the city and indeed in the country. Everyone is either an artist of one form or the other, or multiple forms. There are ‘entrepreneurs’, CEOs, founders, managing directors everywhere. In truth, there are very many talented and brilliant young people in Nairobi and indeed the country. There are many people like Fred who have built amazing, financially and morally sound businesses from nothing. Unfortunately, there are also many people who in essence have nothing but titles, fancy business cards and lofty dreams of who or what they are.

Technology has created avenues that allow people who are creating nothing, selling nothing and doing nothing, to appear as though they really are the real deal. The number of times I’ve read that someone is CEO at QueenLady, a social media influencer and a brand (what does that even mean?) is astounding. Most ‘entrepreneurs‘ you meet here are people who have regular day jobs and then have something on the side to supplement their income. There is nothing wrong with that. In fact, given the cost of living in the country, anyone who does not have supplementary income and manages to somehow survive month to month is a hero of sorts. This ingenuity is admirable to some extent. Being able to make time to dedicate to something else after doing a whole day’s work is nothing short of super-human.

The challenge arises when you consider that the guy who is a banker by day and CEO by evening, selling bottles of whiskey from his house that he has the local boda boda (motorcycle taxi) guy deliver to you, never introduces himself as a banker. He is the CEO of McLaughlin Distillers Limited. Ask him to show you his books, his business plan, taxes he has filed, stock chart, expenses account and most times he can not. Those things don’t necessarily make a business, but one key characteristic of any business or any person who has started a real business is that it’s all or nothing.

In the space of 3 days about 2 weeks ago, while having a chat with two different people, I caught a glimpse of just how grave the situation is with regards to the entrepreneurial landscape in Kenya. I shall not even try to venture down the tenderpreneurs that seem to have mushroomed over the past few years. One of the people I spoke to is an angel investor who specialises in investing in businesses in the creative field. Upon introductions and hearing what I do, she then proceeded to ask “Ok, so what is your other job?” and upon learning that there was no “other job” she apologised profusely and went ahead to explain that 96% of the creatives she met happened to have ‘day jobs.’ The second party I spoke to works for an international investment firm and after discussing things briefly, she expressed her frustration with the Kenyan market since most business are actually side hustles and even when presented with investment, few people are ready or willing to abandon their secure day jobs to delve into business fully.

This is something we have encountered endlessly and is not really a revelation. Given that our business straddles the business and creative fields, we know many artists, creatives etc. who are selling nothing more than their dreams. Ask them to take the next step, quit their jobs, chase their dreams and that’s when they tell you that it is not a step they are willing to take. Not yet. What this then means is that service provision will always be poor because someone is splitting their time between their real job and their side gig. One cannot provide their full and undivided attention because they have to ‘wait until the coast is clear’ to finish that project.

Just like Kazungu, Kenya is selling a false narrative, hard. This false narrative is denying those who have made the sacrifice and the ultimate jump the opportunities they clearly deserve. This false narrative may present all appearances of an ‘international evangelist’ but up close, it shows us for who we are: desperate schoolboys looking to make some pocket change by speaking gibberish and peddling false miracles. We may fool the world for some time but slowly the veil is lifting. A proverb may be an apt closing to this piece:

“The man who gets up after dawn, does not know the difference between the morning mist and the smoke from his mother’s kitchen”