Stereotypes fall away quickly when you see a place for yourself. During our “Immersion Mission” to Nairobi in early July, most of our participants experienced Africa for the first time – and saw just how far reality is from media portrayals.
One of our participants, Radu Stoica, shared a great reflection on this on LinkedIn:
I arrived in Nairobi with warnings in my luggage.
Institutions, friends, even locals told us: do not walk! Use ride services only! Never go out alone!
So we arrived careful. And yes, generally speaking, you have to be careful. Of course we avoided walking at night. But the warnings as such were mostly wrong. Honestly, there are places in Europe that feel less safe to me.
What surprised me: people were smiling, friendly and helpful almost everywhere.
And something else impressed me: the contrast.
On one side: extremely low incomes, poverty, weak infrastructure, gaps in governance. I expected that.
On the other side: an energy I did not expect.Half the country is very young and you can see that! This generation is hungry, creative and willing to build.
Mukuru
We visited Mukuru, one of Nairobi’s informal settlements. I will not pretend a two-hour visit makes me an expert. But I saw small businesses everywhere. Literally everyone was trying something.
And the settlement is surprisingly organized, in good collaboration with the local authorities.
Order inside what looks like chaos from outside. People building lives with almost nothing.
What this generation needs is appreciation. Partners who take them seriously.
And that is why one lesson kept coming back all week: there is no such thing as an “Africa strategy”: every country is its own people, its own culture, its own approach.
Thank you, Radu!
In my view, you captured something essential. People in Mukuru, Kenya, and other African countries neither seek help nor pity, nor do they want unsolicited advice. What they do expect, however, just like everyone else in the world, is genuine appreciation.
Only then can the much-discussed eye-to-eye collaboration happen.
