Kenya’s capital city is of vital importance to the emerging East African powerhouse and, indeed, the world. It is home to the United Nations African offices as well as that organisation’s Environmental Programme. The UN, among other internationally renowned bodies, base their operations in the capital. As a result, and despite the importance of Mombasa as a port city, Nairobi is the largest contributor to Kenya’s GDP. 

Many different industries combine to give Nairobi this status and importance to Kenya. Managing the capital’s efficiency is of vital import to a variety of concerned parties. It is importance to the government, its citizens, international tourists, as well as the business owners that operate within it.

One of our previous articles focussed on how office space affects workforce productivity. If you missed that article you can access it here. This article, part two of our investigation into space management within Kenya’s capital, will focus on how physical spaces are important for Nairobi’s largest industries.

 The service industry lives and breathes on the experience of the customer. It is unsurprising that the capital city of Kenya, one of East Africa’s most exciting tourist destinations, is largely fuelled by services. An average of almost 90,000 tourists come to Kenya each month. They come for the beaches or to go on safari.

Most of these intrepid holiday-goers will pass through Nairobi at some stage. Those that do will likely dine in Nairobi’s restaurants or cafes. Or else they will refresh themselves at one of the city’s many vibrant bars.

According to Kenya’s Information Guide, 59.2% of Nairobi’s GDP comes from the service industry.

That is an indicative figure. It tells us how well the city is doing and it also indicates how important it is that Nairobi continues to do well in supplying a positive experience to customers.

One of the ways certain companies in the service industry fail to satisfy their customers is by failing to understand the importance of space management. If you are a café owner or a restaurant manager, your workspace should be tailored to the customer’s needs, whims and desires.

If any element of that space is devoted to storage, then that space is being mismanaged. Space management is for space managers – managers such as document archivists.

 

One area of Nairobi’s industry that does understand space management is the agricultural industry. Agriculture is a distant second when it comes to the economic output of the capital city. It produces 24% of the metropolitan area’s gross domestic product.

Kenya is a huge contributor to the globe’s cultivated products. Flowers, tea, coffee, lumber and fish are all important elements of that industry. And Nairobi is an important hub in the distribution of this produce. Many of its surrounding areas are dedicated to farming.

Farmers will understand the variable costs of turning land into agricultural yield very well. And distributors understand the effect that yield has on storage costs. It will not be news to either of them that any storage facilities they put aside for records management will be storage wasted with regards to what actually makes their business money.