Hot n Corny has opened up in a few malls in Nairobi. I resisted the aroma of boiled maize for a couple of months but finally succumbed to the aura of youth, music, 'utterly butterly' and 'peri peri magic'. And today as I saw now scarce roasted maize Jua Kali guy at a corner I realised I'm a traitor to the cause.

I remembered my young Jua Kali barber who cut my hair for so many years in South B; but the journey grew longer and longer with age and the set-up didn't keep pace with the times and classier town joints in my mind.

And the vegetable stalls around the corner, and the milk kiosk. Now convenience stalls have rang the death knell.



So the key to growth in any economy is the informal sector; but capitalism is so harsh, so brutal, and alas I must admit that I'm a traitor to the cause.

Where do you stand?

@ muganda. i feel you. i must say 4 me its my campus barber.for the longest time even many years after leaving campus, i kept visiting him for a regular hair cut. in recent times though, i too have betrayed the course. i pay 4 times more at a classy barber shop where the quality is no better, only better ambience

i think. the issue sometimes isnt size. growth is usually aimed at increasing revenue base. however i have found that some small outfits are very good at what they do and are also quite profitable. small can be intimate and more customer focussed.

Here is some reading: SMALL GIANTS By Bo Burlingham
http://www.smallgiantsbook.com/

That is why I like this site there is so much diversity. @Redondo Where on earth did you uncover such a book?

@ the sage you can get a copy of this book at Prestige Booksellers
(Prudential Assurance Building) or from any books first store (Nakumatt Supermarkets)

Muganda, good topic. I like studying businesses, unique selling propositions, their business models, resilience, their procedures, process flows, strategies, ability to handle expansion,etc

I find some small businesses e.g. food kiosks start of very well - good food,swift waiters, clean, etc but with time they become unfortunately become a victim of their own success. Because of their success they attract more & more customers and soon they are overwhelmed. Service levels rapidly head south, waiters take too long to give customers change and even steal,etc. They can't handle the logistics of expansion (diff. business mind-set, diff. procedures,more waiters, stuck on same processes they had when small instead of getting better processes,etc)and so can't move on to the next level - nkt! Its like that Securicor guard who once stole over 83m. He loved chang'aa and with all this cash one would have expected him to graduate to at least cleaner chang'aa (Smirnoff Vodka, etc) instead he drank MORE glasses of chang'aa than he did kawa...same mindset,same thinking even though he could afford any drink..am told folks were esp annoyed about him coz of that!!

One of the best examples of a successful transition from jua kali to big time club is Ronalo Foods aka Kosewe. Nowadays in this place, you pay cashiers who give you a 'receipt' showing what food you have ordered. You present this to a waiter who brings you the food within a few minutes. End of story. Waiters never handle cash, so will never steal from either customer or proprietor, Kosewe. Reconciliation of cash and the receipts is a walk in the park for the proprietor as he just has to know how many 'receipts' he sold for which food at what price and do the simple maths. The system is unique,efficient and is able to serve hundreds of hungry office types within their usual one-hr lunch break. No hassles of shouting for a waiter. Combine that with the good food and you are staring at the recipe of success in the eye.

On a larger scale, how has Carnivore managed to stay evergreen and revelant all these years yet so many clubs/restaurants have come and gone leaving it standing majestically in the Lang'ata sky? Food for thought...

These round the corner jua kali businesses have a niche and what seems to have happened is that 'we' have moved away from their target marked hence 'we' probably don't see and frequent them as much as 'we' used to. But mark you they are still there and serving their target customers. Most jua kali businesses have an intimate knowledge of their customer needs, hence they provide personalized service to their customers.


Irrespective of price, the reason why once in a while I walk into a kiosk to drink a good cup of fermented porridge or cup of soup is the camaraderie I have with the business owner and workers. These businesses know their customers and are quick to greet and acknowledge their presence. They usually also proceed to find out about the welfare of their customers since the last time they saw them, while fulfilling their needs. The unique nature of the relationship between these businesses and the customers differentiates these businesses from the formal sector, and that is why most customers talk in almost possessive terms of their patronage to their respective joints. You will hear someone tell you "let me take you to my joint", followed by a statement that makes them believe their joint is unique.


Even though they are in the informal sector, jua kali businesses are extremely competitive and niche focused. If i ventured to explain the strategy of a kiosk selling porridge, the kiosks core competency is serving that unique cup of fermented porridge, and their positioning strategy is the unique way the customers talk about the kiosk. The kiosks differentiation strategy is the whole shebang (the unique cup of fermented porridge, the camaraderie between the kiosk and customers, the good old wooden seats that have been in place since the birth of Jesus the good old tin cups or guards, and that extra cup of porridge that the owner will buy you once in a while and charge it to the house)

So what do these small businesses in the informal sector do to compete for your hard earned money and retain your patronage? they develop and maintain long term relationships, while serving you in a much more personalized way either by selling you a unique product or providing you with a service. With one of their key success factors being customer service and retention.

Where do I stand on the jua kali cause? I support the jua kali sector but sometimes I feel I am not doing as much as i should. I think of jua Kali in the following light - With the MPigs (borrowed from a wazuan) are not paying taxes, which collectively with the rest of our taxes would help shore up informal sector and hopefully create more employment opportunities and get some of the youth menacing everyone off the streets, the least I can do is help someone earn a living and put food on the table for their family. I have observed most of the time by supporting someone in the informal sector business you might be by proxy supporting several families. Can you see the exponential effect of that if the MPings just saw a flash of light for a second? or am I over simplifying complex problems?