Understanding How Large Language Models like ChatGPT Work and How to Use Them
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana. At first glance, these two sentences seem almost identical — the same structure, the same rhythm, thesame words reused. But they mean completely different things: the first is a simple observation about speed. The second is a sentence about insects and their taste in fruit. […]
Preserve the Crop, Create the Market: Rethinking Agricultural Value in Africa
Every tomato season, the cycle repeats. Markets are flooded, prices crash, and smallholder farmers scramble to offload their fresh produce before it rots in crates or worse, never leaves the farm. A small portion of these tomatoes reaches urban centres like Nairobi. The rest are wasted. Ironically, while farms overflow with fresh produce, supermarket shelves […]
Africa’s Path to Human-centred Industrialisation in the AI Era
There is a well-worn narrative in global development circles that Africa has repeatedly missed out on the great industrial transitions of history—mechanisation, mass production, and digitisation. Now, with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) centred on emerging technologies such as data, artificial intelligence (AI) and automation, the fear is that the continent might once again fall […]
Rethinking Sports as a Platform for Youth-Led Value Chains
In Kenya, discussions about job creation often centre on traditional sectors such as agriculture, textiles, or food. These industries are typically examined through a value chain lens, beginning with demand and tracing backwards to uncover gaps in productivity and areas where strategic interventions could unlock income and employment. While this approach has been valuable, not […]
Why Kenya’s Leather Industry Lags—and How Rethinking Value Chains Could Transform It
In Narok, a cow is slaughtered. Its hide, once stripped and salted, is sold for a few hundred shillings. Several months later, that same hide resurfaces in a high-end shopping mall in Nairobi—now part of a refined leather handbag priced at 16,000 Kenyan Shillings, sometimes branded with an Italian name stitched into the lining. This […]
Unlocking True Productivity: Why Funding Must Evolve Beyond Activities
Across the globe and especially in developing economies like Kenya, a quiet but profound failure persists within development efforts: the inability of traditional funding models to catalyse systemic productivity. Despite vast injections of capital into agriculture, health, education, and manufacturing, value chains remain fragile, fragmented, and underperforming. In this article, we propose a new perspective […]
Rethinking Kenya’s Blue Economy: From Catch to Value Creation.
Why Kenya’s waters hold more than fish — and what it will take to unlock their full potential Kenya’s Blue Economy has been hailed as a flagship of sustainable development — a vision where the country’s lakes, rivers, and ocean generate livelihoods, promote conservation, and spark innovation. But as investments pour in and projects multiply, […]
Kenya’s Looming Opportunity: From Fiber Supplier to Sustainable Fashion Leader
The global fashion industry is undergoing a profound transformation in a world increasingly demanding ethical production and environmental responsibility. Fueled by growing consumer awareness and reinforced by regulatory frameworks like the EU’s sustainability laws pushing for greater accountability, this shift presents a unique opportunity for countries rich in natural resources, particularly Kenya. With its abundant […]
Kenya’s Mango Paradox: Growing the Fruit but Importing the Juice
Kenya, a country renowned for its abundant mango production, paradoxically remains a net importer of mango juice from countries such as Egypt, South Africa, and Saudi Arabia. This surprising disconnect highlights a fundamental issue in the nation’s agricultural industry: the processing and branding of mango juice. The narrative revolves not around the cultivation of more […]
Whatever Happened to Operations Research? The Silent Engine Behind AI’s Shiny Façade
There’s a question that’s been nagging at me for a while now: whatever happened to Operations Research (OR)? In the age of artificial intelligence (AI), OR seems to have quietly faded into the background, forgotten amid the deafening hype around machine learning, large language models, and generative AI. And yet, as I reflect on the […]
