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The Nairobian

Why we should give an award to this hustler

Opinion

By XN Iraki | Oct 02, 2024

**A peacock like display of organic loofahs on a Nairobi street.** [XN Iraki]

We don’t know his name, but his beauty on Koinange Street was palpable. He carried organic loofahs that made him look like a butterfly after summer rains.

Where did get them from? They grow in semi-arid areas and are used in showering, helping you reach inaccessible parts of your body like the upper back.

They are soft to the body and compete with manmade loofahs. In primary school, we were taught how to use handkerchiefs as loofahs.

They are very friendly to the body. Ever tried them? Their presence on a high-end street should not surprise us; we are going organic. Noted adverts for organic foods in supermarkets?

This hustler, or better entrepreneur selling loofahs should be rewarded for creativity and innovation. Think of his sourcing. How does he collect all these loofahs? How does he aggregate them? How does he quality check, ensuring they are ready for the market?

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How does he transport them ensuring they don’t lose their “beauty.”? How does he price them? One can even write a PhD thesis on this entrepreneur only. How many streets does he visit? Who are the key customers? Why Koinange Street? Who was he targeting on this street?

Listed firms

To many of us, he is just a hustler trying to make ends meet. Why don’t we study his business, through a one-man show? Don’t we have the one-man guitar and love it? We study listed firms in MBA but ignore such hustlers or better entrepreneurs. Yet they are very unique.

He is close to the phenomenon and exemplifies the reality of business, better than screens in the trading floors or pits of commodity exchanges.

How does he market beyond the display that closely mirrors the peacock? Record keeping? Costing? How does he control the supply chain? Any trade secrets?

What is his future? Will he one day own a supermarket or an export business for loofahs?

We celebrate the growth of Western-based firms started in garages or university labs.

This young man has no garage or lab. How can we help him scale up without seeing him as a nuisance on the streets? Why do we forget the biggest companies in the world were once startups or a one-man show like The Loofah Man?

We should celebrate him and reward him. Can this young man get in touch with me?