The Economy of Kenya is a market-based economy with a few state enterprises, it is also an emerging market and an averagely industrialised nation ahead of its East African peers. Kenya is a middle income nation and plans to be a newly industrialised nation in 2030. Major industries include agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, manufacturing, energy, tourism and financial services. As of 2020, Kenya had the third largest economy in Sub-Saharan Africa, coming behind Nigeria and South Africa.
Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nairobi, which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper had a population of 4,397,073 in the 2019 census, while the metropolitan area has a population of 9,354,580. The city is popularly referred to as the Green City in the Sun.
In economics, a local currency is a currency that can be spent in a particular geographical locality at participating organisations. A regional currency is a form of local currency encompassing a larger geographical area, while a community currency might be local or be used for exchange within an online community. A local currency acts as a complementary currency to a national currency, rather than replacing it, and aims to encourage spending within a local community, especially with locally owned businesses. Such currencies may not be backed by a national government nor be legal tender. About 300 complementary currencies, including local currencies, are listed in the Complementary Currency Resource Center worldwide database.
A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily inhabited by impoverished people. Although slums are usually located in urban areas, in some countries they can be located in suburban areas where housing quality is low and living conditions are poor. While slums differ in size and other characteristics, most lack reliable sanitation services, supply of clean water, reliable electricity, law enforcement, and other basic services. Slum residences vary from shanty houses to professionally built dwellings which, because of poor-quality construction or lack of basic maintenance, have deteriorated.
Mombasa is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. The town is known as "the white and blue city" in Kenya. It is the country's oldest and second-largest city, with a population of about 1,208,333 people according to the 2019 census. Its metropolitan region is the second-largest in the country, and has a population of 3,528,940 people.
Kibera is a division of Nairobi Area, Kenya, and neighbourhood of the city of Nairobi, 6.6 kilometres (4.1 mi) from the city centre. Kibera is the largest slum in Nairobi, and the largest urban slum in Africa. The 2009 Kenya Population and Housing Census reports Kibera's population as 170,070, contrary to previous estimates of one or two million people. Other sources suggest the total Kibera population may be 500,000 to well over 1,000,000 depending on which slums are included in defining Kibera.
Safaricom PLC is a listed Kenyan mobile network operator headquartered at Safaricom House in Nairobi, Kenya. It is the largest telecommunications provider in Kenya, and one of the most profitable companies in the East and Central Africa region. The company offers mobile telephony, mobile money transfer, consumer electronics, ecommerce, cloud computing, data, music streaming, and fibre optic services. It is most renowned as the home of MPESA, a mobile banking SMS-based service.
Marc Ian Barasch is a non-fiction author, film and television writer-producer, magazine editor, and environmental activist. Major books written by Barasch are The Healing Path (1992), Remarkable Recovery (1995), Healing Dreams (2001) and Field Notes on the Compassionate Life (2005). He has been an editor-in-chief of New Age Journal ; and an editor at Psychology Today ; and Natural Health. He has also done journalistic writing for Conde Nast publications on the arts and the environment. He is Founder and Executive Director of the Green World Campaign (2006–present).
Suas Educational Development is a secular registered charity in Ireland. Its goal is to tackle educational disadvantage in India, Kenya and Ireland and has an ethos of youth development. Suas was founded by a group of students from Trinity College Dublin in 2002, and as of 2018 had a reported annual income of over €1.2m. Suas partners with several education NGOs in the developing world, in particular in India and Kenya, in order to provide education to underprivileged youth.
Slum/Shack Dwellers International (SDI), is a global social movement of the urban poor that started in 1996. It forms a network of community-based organisations in more than 30 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.
Solidarity economy or Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) refers to a wide range of economic activities that aim to prioritize social profitability instead of purely financial profits. A key feature that distinguishes solidarity economy entities from private and public enterprises is the participatory and democratic nature of governance in decision-making processes as one of the main principles of the SSE sector. Active participation of all people involved in decision-making procedures contributes to their empowerment as active political subjects. However, different SSE organizational structures reflect variations in democratic governance and inclusive participation.
Kibwezi is a town in Makueni County, Kenya.
M-Pesa is a mobile phone-based money transfer service, payments and micro-financing service, launched in 2007 by Vodafone and Safaricom, the largest mobile network operator in Kenya. It has since expanded to Tanzania, Mozambique, DRC, Lesotho, Ghana, Egypt, Afghanistan, and South Africa. Meanwhile, services in India, Romania, and Albania have been terminated amid low market uptake. M-Pesa allows users to deposit, withdraw, transfer money, pay for goods and services, access credit and savings, all with a mobile device.
Mukuru Kwa Njenga is a slum in the East of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. It borders the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to the north, Industrial Area business district to the south and other growing suburbs areas within Embakasi region such as Donholm Estate. It belongs to Embakasi South Constituency, but it extends into Makadara and Starehe constituencies. It is one of the largest slums in Nairobi. It stretches along the Nairobi/Ngong River, situated on waste lands in the industrial area of the city between the Outer Ring Road, North Airport Road and Mombasa road. Mukuru has villages namely; Mukuru kwa Reuben, Mukuru kwa Njenga, Sinai, Paradise, Jamaica, Kingstone, Mariguini, Fuata Nyayo and Kayaba. The population exceeds 100,000.
The proposed Lamu Coal Power Station is a potential 1,050 MW (1,410,000 hp) coal-fired thermal power station in Kenya. The proposed plant would be developed on 865 acres of land and feature a 210 meter tall smoke stack, which would become East Africa's tallest structure. It would have been the first ever coal power plant in Kenya.
Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO) is a grassroots movement based in Nairobi, Kenya in urban slums providing services, community advocacy platforms, and education and leadership development for women and girls. SHOFCO serves more than 350,000 urban slum dwellers in 10 slums across three cities in Kenya.
SportPesa is a sports news technology and sports betting brand with operations in Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Italy, Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the UK, where it operates in conjunction with TGP Europe.
Sarafu-Credit is a community currency system operated in Kenya. It is used by five different communities, all located in informal settlements or slum areas, including small businesses and schools.
Kennedy Odede is a Kenyan social entrepreneur and author of a New York Times best-selling memoir. Odede serves as co-founder and CEO of Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO), a grassroots movement based in Nairobi, Kenya and New York, USA. SHOFCO works in urban slums across Kenya, setting up and running a free school for girls in the slum, making clean water and medical care accessible, and helping individuals start small businesses.
