Were Okello, PhD

Researcher | Educator | Part time Writer | Photographer | 2017 and 2022 National Geographical Explorer @NatGeoExplorers

[jonzing. @ehisssss]

i texted her, "how was your day today?" and she sent me a 7 minute voice note telling me everything..

and that basically sums up the kind of person i want by my side. stop normalizing disinterest.

[Faheem Ullah @Faheem_uh]

When you submit your paper to a journal

This is how reviewer 1 and reviewer 2 treat it

[Lawrence Kitema @lawrencekitema]

Your parents have been married for close to 30 years. You don’t see them as role models for marriage, but two social media couples who got married and divorced in less than two years are making you scared to get married. You see that you don’t have sense.

[I am Chege @_James041]

This is a DW clip done by Edith Kimani on how Africa has been captured.

This clip is three minutes long.

[DICKSON MAGECHA @Dicksonmagecha]

What happened to the industry? It was the perfect storm: an unsustainable fiscal policy colliding with a collapsing business climate. Let me explain with one product as an example.
When we opened Tribeka in August 2011, we sourced beer from distributors at KES 82–89 per bottle. We retailed it at KES 200 Monday to Wednesday, then KES 250 from Reggae Thursday all the way through Sunday. That delivered a 200% gross margin. It was incredibly lucrative. We paid down debt fast, took on new debt for expansion, and opened Natives in November 2012.
Then everything started unravelling. The new administration chose to fuel growth with massive debt-financed infrastructure. They pointed to the low tax-to-GDP ratio (distorted by counting these non-cash-generating assets toward GDP) and declared taxation too low. The lowest-hanging fruit? Sin taxes on alcohol. Annual hikes followed, and by 2018 wholesale prices had climbed to KES 180. To protect our old margin we would have needed to sell at KES 540 — but the street price stayed stuck at KES 250. Our gross margin collapsed to just 38% before salaries, rent, taxes or anything else.
The tax burden had by then spread across the entire economy. Real incomes stagnated, so people cut household spending to the bone. The era of dropping KES 100k on a table was over.
By 2015 we had scaled to 8 venues, 380 permanent staff (550 on weekends counting temps), and $11 million in annual revenue. The cracks were already visible. I hoped the crazy 8%+ deficits were just a pre-election anomaly and that we’d see budget discipline after the vote. Instead, they doubled down. They even indexed alcohol tax hikes to CPI — which was madness, because the inflation was being caused by the very taxes and money printing they were doing.
By 2018 we were injecting fresh millions just to cover salaries and rent in some outlets. We were actually relieved when leases expired, even as some landlords tried to muscle us for “goodwill” payments. Minimum wage had jumped from KES 8k to 14k, Tribeka rent had soared from KES 500k to 1.2 million, and we faced an endless parade of extortionate “bureaucracy taxes” and compliance costs.
Today purchasing power hasn’t recovered much. The liquor business is nothing like it was. I walked away with heavy losses, but the lessons I learned are worth their weight in gold. No regrets.
If I were starting again today, I’d open a Michelin-starred restaurant serving a cozy 50 pax and cater strictly to the 1% — the ones who’ve used the Cantillon effect to suck the country dry through rent-seeking, plus the rich foreigners riding the same wave.

[Were Okello, PhD @me_stari]

If you haven’t done so yet, hope onto the podcast on your favourite platform (https://t.co/0wyrIumDt0) and give it a listen.
If you want to support the library Sylvia talks about, click here https://t.co/nlG8xsTC9O

[Were Okello, PhD @me_stari]

@LarryNdivo asante sana. I hope you listened and enjoyed it

[Were Okello, PhD @me_stari]

I did a thing! The first episode of Explore This! is here! Real conversations with National Geographic Explorers about their journeys, their fears, their turning points, and moments that shaped them. Not just what they do… but who they are.
Find it here: https://t.co/0wyrIumDt0

[Were Okello, PhD @me_stari]

New article alert from yours truly.

See this Instagram post by @wyss_academy https://t.co/SgRl8oA54u

[Gichuki Kahome @kahome_steve]

They will tell you that the rich use debt to build wealth.

But what they will not tell you is that they don't borrow against their pay slips.

They borrow against cash generating assets, not a salary.

Their debt is backed by solid assets, not a fickle pay slip

[Were Okello, PhD @me_stari]

@MrsBu_ congratulations! This is an amazing achievement.
What was the title of your thesis?

[Were Okello, PhD @me_stari]

Great conversation on gender relations

Richard Reeves - “Of Boys and Men” & Reframing Debates About Gender | Th... https://t.co/juyojhpdXM via @YouTube

[Bloomberg Africa @BloombergAfrica]

Kenya has reneged on its obligations to the IMF and foregone $850 million in funding https://t.co/zx7wXBYBdk

[The Kenyan Vigilante @KenyanSays]

It's just a minute, take your time and listen to this man go down with El Chapo and Baba Fua!

[Fetty Waf 🪼 @Wafunya]

The Chinese firm.

[Moe @moneyacademyKE]

Kenya's government accumulated over Sh100 billion in loans over the past 12 years, supposedly for the modernization and expansion of JKIA, but these projects never happened

[Were Okello, PhD @me_stari]

My colleagues and I wrote something about nature-based solutions in Africa

Can nature help solve human problems like climate change? Researchers weigh up pros and cons https://t.co/xgUbqpeU8S via @TC_Africa

[Kathambi | Pan-African 💫🌍❤️ @iamkathambi]

I can’t even explain how much I hope Trvmp’s USAID sheninigans set off a ripple effect that fully and conclusively annihilates ‘International Aid’ as a concept in Africa.

I want AID over and done with so baaaaaddd!!!

[Gichuki Kahome @kahome_steve]

Income is not wealth.

Wealth is income not spent.

Savings are not investments.

Investments are savings held in cash generating assets.

You first earn, then save, then invest!