More Kenyans should venture into business

Growing and nurturing local businesses is critical for the health and development of a nation. With a conducive working environment that allows for local companies to scale, glocalisation should be a priority to our country.

By TONY SAHNI
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Summary

• According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, more than 1.7 million Kenyans lost their jobs in the first three months of the pandemic.
• Having glocal businesses ensures that the resources circulate within the country, resulting in a boost in the economy.
• The boost is possible as glocal businesses ensure that resources remain within the nation, instead of having multinational companies, where a large percentage of the resources are moved back to their respective home countries.

Fifty years ago, a retired policeman opted to venture into the little-known private security sector. Back then, Inspector Kishori Lal Sahni who had served in the Kenya Police was convinced that entrepreneurship would serve him better in his early retirement; and what better way than venture into a space he was familiar with, serving a cause he was passionate about.

With that conviction, Mr Sahni set out to establish Securex, a firm that has since blossomed into one of the leading integrated security solutions providers in the region. As a professional in the security industry, he managed to utilise the skills he had learnt in the public sector to solve problems experienced in the private sector.

Today, Securex is a large employer with over 6,000 staff and more than 5,000 direct and indirect partners to facilitate development.

For our nation to continue thriving, professionals should venture into entrepreneurship. They have the necessary skills required, and in Kenya, we have the critical factors of production working for us — land, labour, and capital.

The effects of the pandemic have negatively affected local businesses. The closure of medium and small-sized enterprises has been on the rise with signs of an economic recession looming in on us, as days pass by.

Additionally, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, more than 1.7 million Kenyans lost their jobs in the first three months of the pandemic.

Having glocal businesses ensures that the resources circulate within the country, resulting in a boost in the economy. The boost is possible as glocal businesses ensure that resources remain within the nation, instead of having multinational companies, where a large percentage of the resources are moved back to their respective home countries.

Additionally, setting up more glocal businesses plays its role in aiding our national government in achieving the Kenya Vision 2030 goals.

Vision 2030 aims to transform Kenya into a newly industrialising, middle-income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030 in a clean and secure environment.

Data from the Registrar of Companies show that business names registered between April and November 2020 rose by 58.5 per cent to 65,782 compared to 41,490 the previous year.

The fastest in decades, this is attributed to the economic fallout from the pandemic, which pushed many Kenyans to seek State tenders and move into entrepreneurship in the wake of layoffs and job cuts. These are signs of new businesses coming up.

As we leap into the year, this is the time to build self-sustaining businesses and those that will ensure we thrive as Kenyan locals. We have an opportunity to re-build Kenya post the pandemic, and as professionals, utilising our skills to venture into glocal businesses, is a step in the right direction.