I will shop at Westgate the very day it reopens

Flags fly at half-mast in Nairobi this week: Tragedy will not put Kenya down, its entrepreneurship is unmatched across the world. Photo/Salaton Njau 

By SCOTT BELLOWS

In Summary

• Kenya is fully open for business thanks to its people’s ability to tolerate uncertainty and rise again.

The horrifying events of September 21, 2013 and the subsequent days changed all of us as individuals and as a people. As we sat riveted to our television sets and hoping for the best outcome during the Westgate siege, our internal process of change began.

Traumatising events often transform nations. Post-World War II ushered in more populist pro-social welfare regimes into power across Europe as citizens demanded change. Post-September 11, 2001 left the US feeling vulnerable, which resulted in extreme measures in attempts to protect itself.

Much of the world’s media now ponders how we as Kenyans will evolve following the Westgate Mall tragedy and how individual changes may impact collective national conscience. Furthermore, speculation deepens on how changes will impact business.

No strangers to tragedy, we initially lost our innocence in 1998 as global terrorism landed on our doorstep.

Our resilient Kenyan spirit persevered and the commensurate international attention coupled with both continued liberalisation policies and the rise of the Internet ushered in our rapid globalisation.

Kenyans who left for studies before 1998 and stayed away for 10 or more years, later came home to a dramatically different nation: changed culture, results of rapid economic expansion, and more middle and upper class citizens.

So how will the trials and tribulations of the past week change us? How will changes affect business? Certainly we came together in national unity and charity, especially so in the blood drives.

Similarly, the 2001 terrorist attacks in America left a comparable combination of national cohesion and kindness in the US that lasted for more than a year.

Our Kenyan unique identity and values will guide us. As for our brothers and sisters in the US, fear crept into the American conscience following the terrorist attacks and politicians pounced to exploit the emotions.

Fear brought forth the loss of privacy protections through the Patriot Act, the botched Iraq war, and the NSA secret surveillance programme that we all read about these days. As for us, what Kenyan propensity exists to replicate national fear and the commensurate destruction it brings?

As the eyes of the world lay upon us now in our moments of national mourning, healing, and rebuilding, the citizens of other countries do not understand some key aspects about Kenyans that separate us from the rest of the world and ensure that Kenya remains an excellent place to live, conduct business, and invest.

First, Kenyan culture stands superior to many other national cultures in handling the aftermath of crises. Using Dr Geert Hofstede’s framework, Kenya exists largely as a collectivist society. Therefore, we react more as one and find our sense of security in our togetherness. Our probability to individualistically lash out remains unlikely.

Further, Kenya’s remarkable ability to tolerate uncertainty shocks many visitors. Following national disasters, Kenyans get back to work and businesses start running quickly and efficiently.

The dramatic events following the 2007 elections only deterred us momentarily. Our uncertainty tolerance helps banish the fear that often leads other nations into undesirable directions.

Finally, in Hofstede’s framework, Kenyans do not indulge ourselves in instant gratification. We patiently look for solutions instead of dive in headfirst. Therefore, the world should not expect Kenya to over-react to a tragedy, but to provide proportional sensible responses that make logical sense to foster our pro-business environment.