Sitting here in this nice upscale coffee house in DC (dust bowl county i. e. Kajiado County for those still in the dark), sipping my mocha and surfing the free Wi-Fi fuaaaaa I cannot help but see that the Kenyan economy is definitely on the boom and here is the reason why.

First of all this place is packed to capacity. Hata seating space is so limited that for the first time ever I am forced to share a booth with three other youngsters. The place is filled with prosperous looking yuppies spending big. All are tech wired, with gleaming smart phones being swiped away and laptops with incubator logos on them. This place is no different from Lavington or TRM or any other place where the middle classes like to gather to exchange ideas, work on things or just unwind in between earning and living.

Ten to 15 years ago this was not the case. A coffee house like this would not be found in dust bowl. All you would find is dilapidated dusty buildings and little else. Now world class glitzy malls are opening like horses bolting for a lucrative finish line. Sijui Kitengela Mall, sijui Signature Mall, sijui Crystal Rivers Mall and several more. But back to my table...

The sharply dressed baby faced youngsters in my booth look no older than 23-25 years old. They are speaking Greek IMHO...rapid fire talk about coding and algorithms and other tech fare that make the computer classes I took in first year uni seem obsolete. Their voices are animated and excited with boundless confidence and optimism. No politics here. Just taking their destiny into their own hands.

The swelling middle classes of Kenya are now untamed and there is no holding them back. The numbers don't lie. Domestic tourism cannot be contained any more. Hotels are full, Bonfire adventures and other companies have made Croesus like fortunes and won global awards from catering to the needs of the sprawling middle classes.

In the real estate industry, the clientele is getting younger and younger each year. Gone are the days when homes and plots were sold only to doddering old tea and coffee bonus farmers. I went to a site a few months ago and found a comically young guy putting final touches to his beautiful maisonette in the ClayWorks area. His occupation? A content producer for a local media company. These guys are Kenya's future.

Even among the lower middle classes and below, the changes -albeit slow - have been remarkable as the middle class rising tide lifts all boats. They are better clothed, better fed and better housed. The place I stay for example has a gardener who moonlights by washing cars for the residents for 200 Bob a pop. I counted the other day and based on the number of cars he washes, he easily scrapes about 3000 a day net, 7 days a week.

Is it any wonder then that he is building a modest bungalow in Rongai? What about hawkers? Those guys are doing very well for themselves. What about flower and tree sellers by the roadside. I once dropped about 2k picking up plants and flowers from a chap on a major highway in Nairobi. Imagine my shock when he pulled out a thick bunda of notes from his pocket while giving me change. Kenyans of all classes who are enterprising and are not waiting for a handout are all getting ahead at rapid clip.

This is what inspires confidence in the future of the economy despite the small challenges here and there that all nations on earth face, and the GDP growth numbers corroborate this.

As I take my last sip of mocha getting ready to leave, the Greek on my table continues. The coffee shop is still packed to capacity. The aroma of freshly baked cakes, coffee, chapati and avocado salads waft deliciously in the air. We have a beautiful country, my friends. Let's put in the work and the future is ours.

Shalom.

@Mugundaman, you should have posted some pics? Guys might say you were dreaming...

This runaway consumerism by a generation that is not afraid to borrow is not an indicator of economic boom. Its like our government borrowing to finance everything- then calls it development. We are digging financial holes that our children will stumble into. Beneficiaries of this chaos are Tala, Branch, Mshwari, KCBMpesa and other well positioned shylocks. And yes, the bonfires, Javas, and fancy clubs that provide platforms to flaunt this borrowed lifestyle are making a killing

Kenya was always rich region of whole African continent itself, it's major destination for any Africa tourist tours in probably every country of the world. Being a foreigner I like that. It all smells like a ton of opportunities for me. And glad to see wars are leaving continent it seems;)

You only have to visit Africa's premier real estate website www.property24.com and you will see that its only Kenya that has the most recent and interesting properties. SA, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia, TZ etc are stuck in history, the real estate being traded is colonial, very old. Meaning that our economy is red hawt as @mugundaman aka @KijanaFupiAmenonaAllroundMulumulwas terms it, and construction is everywhere.

@FRM2011,

You know opinions are like nywele. Kila mtu ana zake. But facts and statistics are a stubborn thing.

1. Please give us the KNBS construction rate-of-growth figures for 2018, 2017 and further back. Construction is one of the hugest contributors to our sweltering hot 5% plus growth rates of the past 20 years! A few empty houses with "no buyers" do not equate a whole vibrant industry. Perhaps the houses were poorly designed, or the seller lacks marketing skills. Where is that plot that has not moved behind KAG? MulMulwas Mugundaman wants to buy it.

2. Please do not make me laugh on cement companies. The reason why ARM and EAPCC are down is because of THEFT, GRAFT AND MISMANAGEMENT more than anything else, not because of any deteriorating economic fundamentals. In fact companies like Savannah (in DC of course) are BUILDING NEW PLANTS as we speak! Fierce competition as well as ILLEGAL imports from neighbouring countries (which are not captured in official consumption statistics) is what has brought cement prices down as well as the appearance of a consumption decline. The low prices have been a real boon for the consumer. If I can buy cement from Uganda or Dangote Cement for 450 bob vs 600 bob for local cement, surely it is a no brainer where my money will go.

3. "All property developers who thrived under Kibaki are in the red." This is a vicious lie and you know it papa. Pointing out fraudsters like PRC and Gakuyo as representative of the entire industry is quite a stretch. If "Qwetu" of all things has occupancy (ask Wukan), surely more conventional RE investments are doing far better. There are tens of thousands of private RE companies out there. 6 or 7 in the red is not a representative sample.

4. "There are no buyers" This is the funniest comment ever. I just bought some property juzi juzi. Are you telling me I do not exist? People are buying and selling properties left right and centre, my friend. Have you been to the and registries recently? Or land board meetings. I went to the one in Isinya na tulingoja kama nguruwe for ages as hundreds of people showed up as early as 5.30 am to get ready to be called for their land transfers to be done.

Dustbowlers are now living like kings......nairobians will be jealous.

Debts is one thing, taxes are another, a red hawwtt economy growing at 5%+ for the past 17 years is yet another. Such blistering growth rates aint no joke bruh. GDP growth rate is the FORMAL gold standard in measuring whether an economy is hawtt or not. If we measured economic vibrancy by how much "harsh taxes" are charged, countries like Canada would be the least developed and least economically viable countries in the world.

You should provide a summary of what is being said in the videos. Not everyone on wazua speaks Kikuyu. I only understand part of it because of spending time with Okuyus