True wealth of the Jua Kali

So who or what are the Jua Kali?

Jua Kali – is a phrase coined in the 1980s in Kenya for Micro and Small enterprises and means 'hot sun'. It was symbolic of micro and small enterprises (MSEs) that work under the hot sun without any shed for a roof. This term was initially used for blacksmiths and metal workers involved in making goods such as cooking stoves ‘jiko’, wheelbarrows etc from recycled materials.

Increasingly the term Jua Kali is now commonly used for mainly MSEs and includes traders such as hawkers, basket makers, mechanics and small retailers among others (King 1996).

Petty Enterprise??

Well, if you go by size and the wares they sell the short answer would be yes. Some are either family owned businesses and managed and run by owner whose managerial and entrepreneurial skills may be limited. Yes, competition is very tough among them and duplication is common, coupled by the lack of intellectual property rights, capital for expansion and lack of larger markets. I believe that given the right resources and through creation of an enabling environment these challenges can be overcome.

Nonetheless, going by their indispensability and numbers of micro and small enterprises in comparison with numbers of large enterprises, my answer to pettiness therefore would be NO.

Africa’s SMEs and micro enterprises are not petty when you look at them from an economic perspective in terms of their GDP contribution and their absorption of the labour force. In most countries in Africa SMEs are said to employ over 70% of the labour force (most micro and small enterprises operate in the informal economy!). This would include university graduates and college leavers as well as redundant workers from the formal sector.

Professor Fantu Cheru in his book African Renaissance to the challenge of globalization rightly asserts that ‘without the informal economy few things would work at all in Africa’. I very much agree. For instance, in Kenya, government statistics show that in 2007 MSMEs contributed to 18% of GDP and 74% of the labour force were said to be employed or working within the informal economy.

Fast Forward 2012

Micro and small enterprises ability to be flexible and adaptable in different environments makes them unique and leads us into understanding their untapped and often overlooked wealth.

One of these would be their ability to utilise indigenous resources. Most Micros and SMEs rely on locally sourced products for their businesses. Most trade and services as well as goods manufactured within the Jua Kali mainly rely on local resources as their supply base. Innovation and creativity are displayed by the range of products produced by the Jua Kali. Products such as wooden and soap stone carvings, beaded necklaces, sisal bags, sandals and batik wall hangings are quite popular especially with tourists visiting Kenya and thus create a great revenue base to the economy of Kenya. Metal workers also show ingenious through products created mainly for the domestic market.

Consequently, the ability of the Jua Kali to offer both forward and backward linkages between industry and agriculture continues to be of great benefit to the rural sector taking into account that a majority of Kenya’s work force lives in the rural areas. This is also a great asset base for the Jua Kali considering that where there is high rural unemployment, migration to cities follows and as a result rural unemployment becomes urban unemployment.

Any sector that is able to offer linkages with the rural sector is key to counteracting the problem of poverty, inequality, unemployment and urban migration. In most African countries unemployment remains 40% high.

Achieving sustainability

For Africa to ensure long term employment among the majority of it’s labour force employed by micro, small and medium enterprises, current development practices need to meet the needs of the present without compromising our ability to meet those of the future. This is achievable by ensuring that policies that encourage entrepreneurship are focused on providing an enabling environment for micro and small enterprises, encouraging linkages with rural sector; of which MSMEs are good at and are able to utilise local resources thus boosting agriculture, local industry and economic growth.