Nairobi, March 3 -- Years ago, a study was done in Kenya that quizzed hundreds of entrepreneurs about the money they made from sales and what equipment and raw materials they had to buy to trade charcoal, make furniture, run a hair salon or duka. The findings demonstrated a return on capital larger than every Western figure I have ever seen.
For in Kenya, large areas of our business landscape remain underinvested, which means returns are high for those that exist, attracting foreigners, too, as 'helicopter investors'. These young incomers, many with Harvard degrees, know about Kenya's sky-high returns on capital. They don't reap returns quite of that order, as they build innovative businesses that require heavy marketing in a relatively sm...