
Kenya’s export profile has undergone a quiet shift. Where traditional commodities like coffee once defined external trade, the country is increasingly positioning itself as a source of low-cost labour in the global economy. What used to be a commodity economy at least produced something tangible. Today, the country is increasingly defined by the export of cheap, underpriced labour. There is nothing sophisticated about an economy that trains its people, exports them cheaply, and then depends on their earnings to stay afloat. That is a low-value equilibrium trap ; one where human capital is continuously drained while domestic capacity remains stunted.














