Beyond the Failed State: Capital Mobilization, Investment and Entrepreneurship Among Somali Refugees in Nairobi, Kenya

Beyond the Failed State: Capital Mobilization, Investment and Entrepreneurship Among Somali Refugees in Nairobi, Kenya

2011

East Africa

Kenya

This study is an inquiry into the role of traditional social structures and values in developing, nurturing, and growing business enterprises in Africa, even under drastic conditions of a failed state, a fragmented war-torn society and transnational refugeeism. The study focuses on exploring the dominant patterns of capital mobilization, investment, and entrepreneurship practiced by the bulk of the Somali refugee community in the Kenyan capital city of Nairobi, including the efficacy, limitations, challenges, and opportunities of any observed patterns and processes.

Kenneth Omeje, John Mwangi

Kenneth Omeje is Professor of International Relations at the United States International University in Nairobi, Kenya and Coordinator of the UK-government's Development Partnerships in Higher Education (DelPHE)-funded Capacity-building Project on Conflict and Development Intervention in the African Great Lakes Region. With over 20 years of professional academic experience, Kenneth holds a PhD in Peace Studies from the University of Bradford in England, MA degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from the European University Center for Peace Studies in Stadtschlaining, Austria, and a Bachelors degree in Political Science and Sociology from the University of Nigeria. Until his present appointment, Kenneth was a Lecturer/Research Fellow in African Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Bradford in the UK. He is the author of High Stakes and Stakeholders: Oil Conflict and Security in Nigeria (Aldershot-England: Ashgate, 2006); State Society Relations in Nigeria: Democratic Consolidation, Conflicts and Reforms (ed. London: Adonis and Abbey, 2007); War to Peace Transition: Conflict Intervention and Peacebuilding in Liberia (ed. Lanham-Maryland: University Press of America, 2009); Conflict of Securities: State and Human Security in Africa (co. ed. London: Adonis and Abbey, 2010), etc. He has more than 60 publications, including contributions to international encyclopedias and articles in well regarded peer-reviewed journals.

MwangiJohn Mwangi holds an MA degree in International Relations from the United States International University (USIU), Nairobi, Kenya and a BA degree in Communication (Electronic Media) from Daystar University in Kenya. He is a Development Partnerships in Higher Education (DelPHE) Project Assistant in the School of Arts and Sciences at USIU and is currently working on a number of funded projects with Prof Kenneth Omeje in USIU.