Perhaps one of the most overlooked privileges is not wealth itself, but having enough margin in your life to respond to reality. Over the last few years, we have become fluent in the language of privilege, speaking easily about financial privilege, pretty privilege, racial privilege, passport privilege, educational privilege and social privilege, and in doing so we have become increasingly aware that people do not all start from the same place and that some doors open more easily for some than for others. Yet there is one form of privilege that seems to receive far less attention, and that is the privilege of being able to do something with the information you have, not simply knowing, but acting, because the truth is that information alone changes very little. We like to imagine that if people only knew better, they would do better, and entire industries are built around this assumption, from self-help books and documentaries to podcasts, awareness campaigns, public health initiative...
Have you ever walked through different parts of Kenya and wondered how some of these tiny, almost hidden businesses survive? You pass by a cramped shop selling second-hand clothes, plastic buckets, hangers, and random jewelry. You pause for a second and ask yourself—who is actually buying all this? How is this business making money? Is it money laundering, or are these genuine businesses barely getting by in ways we don’t understand? I ask myself these same questions all the time. Earlier this year, I got an inside look. I was part of a project that involved collecting data on small businesses across Kenya—kiosks, market stalls, tailors, salons, fruit vendors, milk sellers, repair shops, cybers… all the businesses that make up the backbone of our economy. What I found was both eye-opening and brutally honest. The Reality Behind the Business Dream We love to romanticize entrepreneurship. Motivational speakers will tell you that employment is slavery and that starting your own business i...