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Could the real "Jews" of Kenya please stand up

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It is a commonly held belief that after the asian community,the kikuyu are the most enterprising and prosperous community in kenya - to the extent that they're considered the "jews" of kenya.it is believed that business acumen and entrepreneurship are in-born qualities of the kikuyu.nothing can be further from the truth.of the forty two or so indigenous kenyan communities,the most enterprising and prosperous community - the one that can deservedly be called the "jews" of kenya - are the abagusii.this is why:

relative to population size,the abagusii are more enterprising than the agikuyu.the number of hard working and successful kikuyu businessmen is no doubt larger than that of their kisii counterparts.this is because the kikuyu community makes up nearly a third of the entire country's population.it therefore follows that nearly a third of the country's most successful business people,criminals,drivers,lawyers,hawkers etc should ordinarily be kikuyu.but this is not always the case.the abagusii for example are a small community but have achieved much more than their fair share in business and other professions.for the abagusii to be neck to neck with the kikuyu in most sectors of the economy inspite of their numerical inferiority is a remarkable achievement.

the geographical location of the agikuyu is another of the many huge advantages that the community enjoys that others like the abagusii do not.it's central location affords the community the advantage of utilising opportunities in every corner of the country.abagusii businessmen,who are tucked away in the south western end of the country would for example need to cross the entire country to take advantage of opportunities in mombasa.

another unfair advantage that the kikukyu have enjoyed over other communities has been the fact that two of the three presidents we've had since independence have been from the community.during kenyatta's reign and now kibaki's,the mount kenya region received and continues to receive preferential treatment in the allocation of national resources,business opportunities,political appointments and all the other goodies that come with an imperial presidency.the abagusii have never had any such advantages.

the kikuyu community's proximity to nairobi city exposes it to the largest and most lucrative market in kenya as well as the best business opportunities.this is in addition to enjoying better infrastructure.one example is the proposed eight-lane super highway that will run from the city centre up to thika town.another is the inclusion of several central kenya towns in the proposed nairobi metropolis.

the akamba and the kikuyu were the first two communities that the colonialists and missionaries really interacted with and were therefore the first to be exposed to capitalism and commerce.in that sense,they had a head start and were therefore better placed to prosper in business.these are some of the factors often overlooked when according the kikuyu community a title that rightly belongs elsewhere - in gusii.