Juakali guy in Gikomba (roadside) has to move to Kariobangi(backstreet) Industries (Cottage -call it semi-formal) then eventually move to warehouse in Industrial area (formal) then he expands to UG/TZ/(MNC) with recognised Sufuria brand. Jua kali guy in gikomba is one dude, when he moves to Kariobangi he will employ spouse and maybe kids to sell stuff, then eventually when he moves the ladder he will even employ me as IT guy.
I agree with you on the need to "upgrade" the jua-kali+informal sector, as do many experts---and I am not one---who have looked into the matter. And I quite like the idea of Mr./Ms. Jua Kali sending his/her "recognized sufuria brand" all over the place. I think where we disagree overall is in the relative weights of manufacturing vs. services, what should drive what, ... in a developing country.
In your example: If the spouse and kids (assuming they are not under-age, otherwise one expects them to be in school) are not getting paid, then their contribution to the "service" economy is not what it should be; the main point in employment is to get paid, and as a rule salespeople get paid. So let's assume they are getting paid ... and for simplicity, let's ignore things like a maid/"boy" being paid to replace the spouse, etc. The IT guy will too expect to be paid---and much more than the "sales staff". And so on, and so forth. We therefore end up needing a lot of
sufurias. Maybe Mr./Ms. Jua Kali then employees more
sufuria-makers or he/she borrows and invests in
sufuria-producing technology that reduces the labour requirements. No matter what he/she chooses, at the end of the day what drives the business and the employment of the other people is the production of
sufurias, i.e. manufacturing: not enough
sufurias means the "service" people---spouse+kids salesforce, knowledge-economy IT guy, etc---have to go home.
(It is, of course, possible to have a huge services sector but without much in manufacturing, but there is a difference there between the situation in a developed country and a developing one. It is even possible to have a relatively huge "return on investment", but to what end? For example, the guy who cuts my hair whenever I am in the "reserves" in Kenya has been at it for years, with his only "investment" being in scissors and a bad chair.)
Putting aside my "jocular" comments on neighbourly Mavoko
boda-boda types, I am genuinely intrigued by your comments in that area. Part of that is in a broad sense---e.g., at a national level, how does that industry compare with that of Vietnam, which has been at it for ages---but part is purely personal: I have sponsored a relative into that industry, and the last time I looked at his "books"---actually an "exercise book"---I concluded that he is in for a long struggle .... so many rides per day, bringing in at most so much per day, etc. What are the successful ones doing?
