Thread by @tessie18

Noteworthy things observed in Kenya in the last two weeks:
1. SA is bring ripped off by Uber and Telkom. In to days of Uber for sight seeing less than R200 was spent and I am tweeting this using the 10G mobile data I got from Telkom at R150.

2. SA currency is stronger but their cost of living is lower
3. Mobile money is not about banks. Removing banks from mobile banking makes trade cheaper & easier.
4. Uber & other foreign innovations need to be localised to be effective. There are Uber motorbikes & uber-like buses

5. Kenyan tourism is set up so that Kenyans can afford to see their sights and that if the international tourist stopped coming it would not be a crisis. Locals pay less than half than non residents for national museums and parks

6. Informal traders supply items across a large spectrum of good from the daily needs to long term purchases. Coming from SA where people go into debt to by a couch I long for furniture makers on the roadside.
7. Fruit can be a staple that no one needs to buy at a formal store

8. The idea that African migrants are the enemy is a counter productive idea. Nairobi is a migrant city but the only migrants that stand out as clearly not local are white people. In fact they are so serious about African relations that they jails a xenophobic MP.

9. Kenya has locally owned stokvel banks. Debt is a short term (even with traditional banks) and undesirable thing. Mobile money makes being unbanked a non issue.

Being in Kenya has been an affordable experience that has stimulated innovative ideas

Let's learn in Africa

The joy of travelling this continent and interacting with it's people is learning that beyond the stereotypes and the perceievd lack of "order" that we in SA judge on lies a complex and thoughtful set of community and legal ways of life that make economic opportunities easier