Kitui road industrial area Nairobi: My experience searching for a job at Kitui road in Nairobi’s Industrial Area

Many years ago, I found myself searching for a job at Kitui road, Industial Area, Nairobi. Those days – I don’t know if things have changed nowadays – a good number of the big businesses along Kitui road used to be owned by Indians. The jobs in such businesses would be taxing and low paying, yet folks were still ready to do just about anything to get them.

In the course of searching for a job at Kitui road in Nairobi’s industrial area, I learnt a few things.

Firstly, I learnt that having ‘connections’ is very important, when it comings to searching for a job within Nairobi's industrial area. I mean, you could spend weeks waiting for a job in one of the businesses gates within Kitui road industrial area. Only for a fellow with the right connections to come out of nowhere and be picked for a job within one day. It soon became clear that most of the jobs were being given out on the basis of connections/on the basis of whom one knew on the inside. Those of us waiting for random jobs would end up having to wait for very long durations of time before eventually being called – and that only when a person with connections couldn’t be found.

Secondly, I learnt that the problem of unemployment is very real in Kenya. Some of the individuals I would find looking for manual jobs in Kitui road were folks with excellent qualifications. Some were folks of exceptional intelligence, which unfortunately they couldn’t put into proper use without capital… Yet most of the jobs to be found in Kitui road tended to be in warehouses, as opposed to real factories, meaning that the opportunities were few and far apart.

Thirdly, I came to learn that searching for a job in Kenya is a full-time job in itself. I mean, unless you are very lucky, it can take you up to a year before getting a somewhat permanent job in Nairobi's industrial area.

What ultimately saved me was the fact that I had advanced computer skills. Banking on those, I was eventually able to secure a job elsewhere. But by then, I had already endured a lot of sun and dust in Nairobi’s Industrial Area Kitui road.