What Gen--z's should do to solve their swarms of froflems is this...

[.]

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A few months ago I decided to visit one of my construction projos - in Ruaka - very early in the morning just to find out how the kazi ya mkono guys were faring. The foreman was usually the last to arrive on site later in the morning, so this was the perfect opportunity to find out how he was treating the workers – almost all of them being Gen z’s – and if he was paying them their allocated dues. Little did I know how much of an enjoyable eye-opening experience it would be.

I have always been an early riser ever since my colle days when we would pull triple shifts at McDees, on-campus work study jobs and graveyard shift factory jobs, plus 18-21 hour course loads per week, all at the same time. I remember how doing all that would get you so tired that after a few weeks of the same, you stopped feeling tired at all as your body went into autopilot after getting used to it.

To date, I can’t sleep earlier than midnight and neither can I wake up later than 4 a.m, 7 days a week. So I arrived at around 6 am and strolled onto site, much to the surprise of the 15 or so workers who had arrived and were busy opening the site house, getting the tools, generators and concrete shakers ready, for the long day that lay ahead.

I had never spoken to them directly. I preferred to deal with them through the foreman, because despite the fact that I would enjoy being very hands-on in years prior, I had started to delegate as I had other projects and matters of import elsewhere to attend to. So they were surprised to see “bossy” as they called me, arrive and break bread with them that early in the morning. Little did I know what interesting things were in store for me.

After the usual pleasantries, they all sat down and we opened up the discussion. I was happy to find out that the foreman was actually very good to all of them, treated them with respect and paid them their dues faithfully with no issues whatsoever. I then asked them about their lives in general, how they were coping and of course how they felt the economy and the government in general were. The answers they gave me were shocking to say the least.

First of all, I was surprised to find out that almost all of them had either a TVET diploma of some sort and some actually had either some university education or a degree from our local universities! As for the economy and politics, the usual slew of complaints came at my ears in a blue streak

Ooooo gava ni mbaya
Ooooo no jobs
Ooooo economy ni bure

I looked at this group of intelligent guys and thought to myself; something was amiss here. These guys were clearly not dumb, and of clearly not lazy, as kazi ya mjengo is no joke!

I asked one of them - a  rotund young man with a shifty look - what he had studied and why he thought things were so bad for them. What he said was quite something. He went on for about 2 minutes about how he could not find a real job after studying Marketing at MKU. That’s how he ended up battling with cement at the construction site. I asked another young man the same question. He said he had studied construction technology but - again - could not find a job so had no choice but to do kazi ya mkono work. Looking at this group of young men, I shook my head in amazement. I then began to ask them a very simple question.

I asked them why, with all their education and work ethic, couldn’t they create jobs for themselves like the rest of humanity has done, some of us inclusive. They seemed dumbfounded at the question. Then came the responses, slowly at first, then in a flood.

Oooo no capital
Oooo Kanjo watasumbua
Ooooo taxes are too high
Ooo..Oooo…

I looked at them, smiled and shook my head in amazement, before asking them to show me their phones. They all showed me gleaming, smart phones. Some brand new. Others were high end brands that were worth 20k KES or more! Even if bought used!

I pointed at those phones and asked them. Na hiyo capital ya kununua hizo simu ulipata wapi? A stunning silence followed.

I pointed out how they were all “well fed” and not starving. They also said they all had places to live in. Some with their parents. Most of the rest in their own bedsitters. I then ask them if they entertained themselves with the money they earned daily at the mjengo. The response was hilarious. “Sherehe lazima.” “ Mzinga lazima tukunywe sometimes” and so on.

It’s at that point that I explained to them what their REAL problem was, and it was a very simple one.

They all lacked the ability to not only obtain and implement actionable knowledge and information, but to also manage their resources well and risk-take in order to escape their dire circumstances.

In other words, with a little actionable knowledge, self-discipline, planning and entrepreneurship (which is another name for risk taking), there was no excuse whatsoever to be doing kazi ya mkono mjengo work. Work usually reserved for illiterates.

I then asked another question. How many of them had a diploma in construction technology or related fields. Several hands shot up. I asked those whose hands shot up; if you guys know all about and have practical experience in site excavation, setting out, foundation blinding, walling, columning and so much more, why can’t you start your own business of building homes, hata kama ni tiny bungalows huko ushago? Or specialize in doing mouldings; a high-demand high-paying niche, for example? More loud silence.

Then one lanky fellow raised his hand and said. “Bossy, mimi nimesomea art and design lakini sikupata job, ndo maana niko hapa. Life haiko fair na gava ni very corrupt na imekataa ku.......” I stopped him mid sentence and asked; can you produce paintings? Artworks and crafts? “Of course,” he responded. Why then can’t you use your talents to make them and sell them to others for a living, growing your clientele over time? He looked confused. Clearly he had not thought about all that ever in his life. As with many of his generation, he was just waiting for someone to give him a job, like it were manna from heaven. Once that plan failed he felt his life was doomed.

The discussion continued on and on for the next half an hour or so. Some got what I was showing them. Others stared blankly on like zombies. Already convinced in their minds that life was too difficult, suffering was their portion and that only the GoK could solve their swarms of problems. When I explained to them that the role of any government is not to create jobs but to get out of our hair and create an enabling environment for the citizenry to pursue their dreams and self-actualize, some looked at me like I was telling them some strange new revolutionary concept gleaned from far away planets!

I will never forget the hazy look in those youngsters' eyes on that day. For some of them, my questions and messages hit them hard. About a year later after that discussion, it warmed my heart when one of them contacted me and said I changed his life on that day. He said he went home that night and couldn’t shake what I had spoken of to them out of his mind. He decided to save up some of his money, quit the drinking and the partying, sell off some of the possessions he really didn’t need and go full scale into his passion - which was what he had studied at a TVET: carpentry. He had opened a small kibanda where he started making small stools and tables, which to his shock, he found out people actually came by and bought from him. He told me he was earning in a day what he used to earn in two weeks as a kazi ya mjengo guy. He now had a bigger operation that was making all sorts of furniture. Business was so brisk that he could not even keep up with his orders.

Life is an interesting thing. As with the aforementioned mjengo group, some Gen-z’rs will gerrit while others will keep gnashing teeth at mahandamanos. The world does not owe Gen-z’s (or any human being for that matter) anything. They have to sweat for it like the rest of us did. I once found a Gen-z with a hurubaro selling peeled sugarcane who told me that from his simple operation, he had not only fed his family and paid rent monthly, but had also bought a small plot upon which he planned to build his home to escape rent in the fullness of time. No whining about Gok. About peni mbili politricks. About high taxes and blah blah blah.

Just working like life depended on it (it does), trusting the process, being patient, not whining 24/7 about things you can never control and getting it done.

Ni hayo tu.

[RV Pundit]

Nailed it. My mother who was orphaned taught me many lessons that are like this. Basically you're on your own in this world. You got be disciplined, save, invest, be consistent, work hard and nothing is impossible. My mother and their family have rosen from orphanhood to very successfully self-made people. Nobody owes you nothing should be complusory lesson.

[patel]

Live your life and let others live their lives. No single person has solution to other people's problem. 

[.]

Live your life and let others live their lives. No single person has solution to other people's problem.

Are you okay with Gen-zr's looting and burning down other people's businesses in the name of "letting [them] live their lives ?

On solutions .. democracy also dictates a right to an opinion, no ?

Please be part of the SOLUTION-giving population of Kwiinyans rather than trying to muzzle free speech while providing no solutions yourself.
Gen-z's need mentorship, guidance and direction. The current path they are taking is a one way ticket to NOWHEREVILLE!

[.]

These are the type of Gen-Z's that are the FUTURE of a peaceful and progressive Kwiinya.
Those smashing windows and eating teargas are just warming themselves up for the lice infestations in their bodies, dressed in Kungurus  while riding back and forth to Kamiti in a Moody Hopper (prison vehicle) .

Farming/animal-keeping is no joke yet he has cracked the code on it
120 trays of eggs per day! Assuming farm gate is 400 bob per tray, that is a juicy 48,000 kshs PER DAY!
I highly doubt such a smart and hard working fellow would be in the protests. His productive enterprise needs work and attention daily!

[.]

Nailed it. My mother who was orphaned taught me many lessons that are like this. Basically you're on your own in this world. You got be disciplined, save, invest, be consistent, work hard and nothing is impossible. My mother and their family have rosen from orphanhood to very successfully self-made people. Nobody owes you nothing should be complusory lesson.

Absolutely, brother.

This is the hard lesson every single human being -- not just Gen-Zrs -- who gripes about being poor or having no opportunities, needs to learn.

You are responsible for your own life and destiny. Na hakuna cha bure.

Whenever I go to the farm to plant trees - Cypress especially - the workers are always surprised that I can spend even 8 enjoyable hours with only a 30 minute lunch break planting, weeding, pruning. For one, they feel that educated people, especially "watu wa tao" should not be doing such dirty work. Second, for they themselves it's just a job. For me it's a big long term personal investment. Imagine how many trees one can plant if they plant 500 trees a month for 10 years! You already know how much Cypress goes for per foot. In 15-20 years time we are talking tens of millions per acre. The first number of acres planted several years ago are already a mini-forest of sorts. The rest are growing fast!

The funny thing is I really enjoy going back to the shamba every month, while for them (the workers) it's drudgery. They basically do the bare minimum to not be fired. There is a certain inexplicable joy in working the land and seeing the fruit of your labour blossom over many years. The fruit of your hard work! This is the lesson Gen-Zrs need to understand, regardless of what field or enterprise they are in. Dreams take time to turn to reality so patience is key. Shortcuts never work. As the late Idi Amin used to say; shortcuts will get you cut short!

NI hayo tu.

[RV Heavy Hitter!]

That is why sane folks support shoot-to-kill and extensive kidnapping operation to anyone destroying, looting, burning businesses, property, and sensitive government facilities. Criminal activities and peaceful protest are two different things

[gout]

The Gen Ziis are just in competition with the politicians in looting and destroying the country.

Just that politicians use posh tenders, the budget, taxation and make the laws.

[KenyanPlato]

Lol the lack of understanding of why young people would riot in a place like Kenya is hilarious. You can't hard work yourself out of poverty. That is a fallacy. Otherwise majority of Hardworking kenyans would be rich. The more hard work you do, the more poor you are. A construction laborer is in a more skilled position. Those laborers can't be rich out of that work even if they saved 99% of their earnings. It is very expensive being poor because you spend most of your time looking for basic needs. The youth bulge in kenya has been talked about for decades. No one did anything policy wise, now it is getting wasted in nonsense work. This generation is the most resourceful by creating their own hustles unlike most of people who are just talk, I have closely worked with several of these Gen,z. How do you call someone that is working a factory job and running a business during the day unfocused?
There are more businesses than there are customers in kenya. You visit estates like Roysambu and Zimmerman there are usually 3 generations running similar businesss. A 70 year old mama mboga, a 50 year old mama mboga, a 33 year old and a 25 year old. Those businesses barely make rent and end up being moved into the streets. They are just something to do other than rot in the house all day unemployed


Until Kenyan elites and capital owners decide to work and come up with solutions that can absorb this youth bulge the violence in the streets and dysfunction won't go away. The destruction is being sponsored solely by political class especially those with executive power. They are trying to sell this narrative that the Young people are anarchist. Anyway kenya is a failing if not failed nation. It is headed the DRC way or Sudan. All it needs is the weaponized..thugs in military to just decide to take power and enrich themselves like the political class.

Kenya has ability to corrupt people. You can blame the victims all you want but it won't change the reality

[patel]

Precisely. Notice, beside listening to these youngins mnuguniko, Oldun never offered mentorship or investment on these young people ideas. Bure kabisa.

Lol the lack of understanding of why young people would riot in a place like Kenya is hilarious. You can't hard work yourself out of poverty. That is a fallacy. Otherwise majority of Hardworking kenyans would be rich. The more hard work you do, the more poor you are. A construction laborer is in a more skilled position. Those laborers can't be rich out of that work even if they saved 99% of their earnings. It is very expensive being poor because you spend most of your time looking for basic needs. The youth bulge in kenya has been talked about for decades. No one did anything policy wise, now it is getting wasted in nonsense work. This generation is the most resourceful by creating their own hustles unlike most of people who are just talk, I have closely worked with several of these Gen,z. How do you call someone that is working a factory job and running a business during the day unfocused?
There are more businesses than there are customers in kenya. You visit estates like Roysambu and Zimmerman there are usually 3 generations running similar businesss. A 70 year old mama mboga, a 50 year old mama mboga, a 33 year old and a 25 year old. Those businesses barely make rent and end up being moved into the streets. They are just something to do other than rot in the house all day unemployed


Until Kenyan elites and capital owners decide to work and come up with solutions that can absorb this youth bulge the violence in the streets and dysfunction won't go away. The destruction is being sponsored solely by political class especially those with executive power. They are trying to sell this narrative that the Young people are anarchist. Anyway kenya is a failing if not failed nation. It is headed the DRC way or Sudan. All it needs is the weaponized..thugs in military to just decide to take power and enrich themselves like the political class.

Kenya has ability to corrupt people. You can blame the victims all you want but it won't change the reality

[RV Heavy Hitter!]

Lol the lack of understanding of why young people would riot in a place like Kenya is hilarious. You can't hard work yourself out of poverty. That is a fallacy. Otherwise majority of Hardworking kenyans would be rich. The more hard work you do, the more poor you are. A construction laborer is in a more skilled position. Those laborers can't be rich out of that work even if they saved 99% of their earnings. It is very expensive being poor because you spend most of your time looking for basic needs. The youth bulge in kenya has been talked about for decades. No one did anything policy wise, now it is getting wasted in nonsense work. This generation is the most resourceful by creating their own hustles unlike most of people who are just talk, I have closely worked with several of these Gen,z. How do you call someone that is working a factory job and running a business during the day unfocused?
There are more businesses than there are customers in kenya. You visit estates like Roysambu and Zimmerman there are usually 3 generations running similar businesss. A 70 year old mama mboga, a 50 year old mama mboga, a 33 year old and a 25 year old. Those businesses barely make rent and end up being moved into the streets. They are just something to do other than rot in the house all day unemployed


Until Kenyan elites and capital owners decide to work and come up with solutions that can absorb this youth bulge the violence in the streets and dysfunction won't go away. The destruction is being sponsored solely by political class especially those with executive power. They are trying to sell this narrative that the Young people are anarchist. Anyway kenya is a failing if not failed nation. It is headed the DRC way or Sudan. All it needs is the weaponized..thugs in military to just decide to take power and enrich themselves like the political class.

Kenya has ability to corrupt people. You can blame the victims all you want but it won't change the reality

Ujinga mtupu. There are opportunities in Kenya if you are sober, together, disciplined, and not under the addiction of something. It is the mindset, not victimhood, criminality, and ujinga! Everyone is responsible for bringing themselves up once they are an
adult. Burning people's property, looting, fighting police, etc., are acts of criminality, and society always deals with them harshly. Soon, when police start picking them one by one from their homes, you will hear the usual suspects coming to cry, Kidnap bla bla bla. Criminals have to be dealt with the hard way.

[KenyanPlato]

Rvshitter
Why are you in Kenya to take those opportunities? Why are you leeching off American economy? You amaze me with the level of hypocrisy. That why you are religious coz free thinking to you is too taxing

[.]

Precisely. Notice, beside listening to these youngins mnuguniko, Oldun never offered mentorship or investment on these young people ideas. Bure kabisa.

Like some of those hazy-eyed youngin's who thought I was speaking Greek the whole time, some won't gerrit and perhaps never will. I gave those youngin's nuggets enough for a lifetime in that brief discussion. The one who was meant to gerrit did and is thriving. The youngin' selling kuku hapo juu came from zero and has worked his way up bila minung'uniko (thanks for reminding me of that word😅) ama?

It's funny how in 2025, a shockingly large swathe of humanity still does not understand that Capitalism is simply the ownership of Capital.  And that capital can only be acquired in two ways. Theft. Or hard work. Iyo tu. For some of us who were not looters, we had no other choice but to sweat.

Just like many of my Kwiinyan colle buddies in USGay who were too lazy to pull triple shifts and save their way through it all to get through school -- some of who are now proper alcoholic dropouts with criminal records longer than Manute Bol -- when it comes to capitalism, not everyone will gerrit.

Saving for example is something that completely eludes many. The day that my destiny changed was at age 18 fresh out of high school when I read the book The Richest Man in Babylon.That book opened my eyes in a way no other single book has either prior or afterwards. It's biggest lesson wasn't a financial one, but a destiny one. You are 100% responsible for how far you will go in this life. Nobody owes you nada!

I have long been able to spot a born loser among my employees very quickly.

-- Minung'uniko about life froflems fweeeh 24/7
-- very shoddy quality of work - no sense of ownership or diligence even on the tiniest and easiest of tasks
-- Looking forward to the utopia in their minds where gava will resolve all their problems including impregnating their wives for them.
-- Fombe and/or addiction of one sort or another is huge undeniable corollary here in majority of the cases.

It's always someone else's fault, not theirs

Contempt/disdain for learning/acquiring new skills every day is their portion. You would rather meet a bear robbed of her whelps than a fool in his own folly who rejects clear-cut, concrete, actionable solutions presented in their face!

I suppose this is and has always been, the iron curtain between the only two regiments of humanity;

-- The prosperous and the impoverished
-- The rulers and the ruled
-- The employees and the employed.

And in any case the latter are always needed by the former, so it will never change. Mind you there's nothing wrong with being ruled or employed, but unless you are disabled, a helpless senior citizen or have a terminal disease that prevents you from working, there is something VERY wrong with being poor if you have a mind to think with and two hands to work with daily. Especially if you are educated!

Perhaps the only other group that can be excused for their poverty are those humble citizens with absolutely nothing - no land, no education, no resources whatsoever, no income/no job & no access to a market system. Those ones definitely need assistance/help/mentorship and education of some sort.

What is always in flux is what side of the table human beings choose to be on.

I love what Njenga Karume (RIP) used to say about success. He said the day he realised he could make a shilling by buying a few books and pencils at a far away market and coming to sell them to fellow students at a tiny profit is the day the beautiful opportunities in the world of business opened up to him and life was never the same afterwards.

Remember, this was a guy who became a MULTIMILLIONAIRE BEFORE INDEPENDENCE when Kenyans were being thrown into detention camps and banned from having bank accounts! They weren't allowed to grow cash crops. He was arrested and detained several times just for existing. How did he do it? He WORKED LIKE A DOG, burning charcoal in the forests in Molo and Elburgon and transporting the same to urban centers everywhere. While his peers were nungunikaring about Serekali ya Msungu not letting them breathe.

If Njenga, with his standard 5 education did it then in such dire circumstances, what's anyone's excuse now?

But as usual, only a few will gerrit.

In my own family I have some of the LAZIEST relatives on this planet.

When I was busting my bee-hind applying to go to unis hambload as a 17 year old with zero resources, not even knowing where the maney for the Kwiinyan passport or plane ticket would come from, they were spewing minung'uniko about how tough life was 24/7, while doing zero to move forward.

When I was saving every shilling working odd jobs after high school, they sneered at me saying those were tasks that paid peanuts and were "reserved for illiterates."

When I kept applying to all sorts of unis hambload they laughed me to scorn saying "we are older than you, smarter than you, we tried and all failed to go hambload. Who are you to even dare!"

Long story short, by God's grace and by several miracles of epic proportions and unbelievable work put into piecing everything together, I landed at LaGuardia on a cool early August night to start my new journey there (with almost nothing in my pocket!) and the rest is history.

To this day, the same same relatives are whining ngweeh about how tough and painful life is.
I already narrated hapa about the one I helped set up a biz and it crumbled to dust because of his laziness.
Juzi I attended a family lunch and it was still the same thing after all these decades.

Whining about everything outside of their control.
Fombe fweeeh lazily done daily.
To wake up before 9am is anathema to them.
Let alone to do any sort of physical work of any sort.

Isapite.

When I point out how much I had to bust my behind with nothing given on a silver platter, the answers are predictable;

Oooo you were lucky
Oooo back then US visa rules were easier
Oooo you were able to accumulate capital majuu. Kenya has no opportunities.
Ooooo you came back when the economy in Kwiinya was not that bad
Oooo ooo oooooooo...

Followed by another round of fombe + empty talk about nothing of substance for hours on end.

Gen-z's, if you are not careful, that is your future too!

Ni hayo tu