The largest industry in Kenya

What's the biggest industry in Kenya? I thought it would be tourism/safaris. Abby was joking it might be security guard. She was living out of an UN compound that is close to an area where most of the expats live by in Nairobi. In that area, almost every house has no less than 5 security guards.

Then that night, we sent Abby to Country Club Lodge, a hotel where she's going to have her dinner appointment. It is located in a seriously guarded district, where there are road obstacles everywhere and broken glass on high walls. And every five meters, there was a security guy with loaded gun. Now I started to believe that security guard really is the largest industry in Kenya.

The real cornerstone of Kenya's capitalist economy though is agriculture, which employs around 80% of the population and accounts for over 50% of the country's export earnings or 25% of the GDP. Tourism used to be the mainstay of the country's economy but has suffered since the embassy bombings and terrorists attacks a few years before.

The GMIX I am involved with is at a nonprofit helping farmers and building agriculture marketplace. So I look forward to seeing some part of the rural areas that represent Kenya's largest industry.