Kenya

Greetings

Men greeting Men – A handshake (sometimes multiple hand clasps in sequence) is the most common form of greeting. Often the hands remain clasped for a few minutes while speaking. Depending on their familiarity, men may greet other men with a handshake or a handshake with a hug. Two main variations are used as indications of respect; a man will hold onto his right wrist with his left hand while shaking hands; and in some rural areas men will spit on either side of the hand while shaking hands with someone they consider themselves beneath (this is not uncommon for very old men in the village to do upon greeting a white man; which may possibly be traced to the subservience to the British during the colonial period).

Women greeting Women –A handshake is appropriate in most situations. Good friends and family will usually exchange a kiss on the cheek along with a hug.

Greetings between Men & Women – A handshake is the most common form of greeting. It’s usually best for men to allow the woman to offer her hand first. Good friends in some areas may kiss both cheeks when greeting. Greetings between men and women can be very subdued, and people are often so reserved that it may seem like they act like embarrassed teenagers.

Note: “Jambo?” (“How are you?) is usually said immediately prior to a handshake. Handshakes are required, regardless of how many people you are greeting. For example, if you enter a room with 30 people gathered for a meeting, it is usually expected that you will take the time to greet each individual with a handshake. Handshakes among friends can be almost comically effusive; old mamas will swing their arm from behind their body to smack and grab their friend’s hand in mid-air, amidst verbal greetings and laughter.

Communication Style

• Conversations tend to be polite, beginning with ‘How is your work?’ ‘How is your home?’ ‘How is your family?’ and is often injected with good doses of humor and laughter. The communication style is usually non-confrontational and polite.

• Kenyans will rarely be direct when speaking with anyone except the closest of friends. They prefer to hide their true feelings, especially when speaking on financial matters.

• Kenyans prefer to maintain peace than to confront someone about a problem they are having.

Personal Space & Touch

• Conversation generally takes place at arms length after shaking hands. However, it is common to see men who know each other well, walking and talking whilst remaining hand in hand. This is accepted and in no way seen as strange or homosexual behavior (homosexuality is illegal ). It is less common to see men and women/couples hand in hand or displaying any affection in public.

• Touching when speaking is kept to a minimum for business contacts and is usually reserved for close friendships. Good friends, including those of the same sex, will converse with an intimate amount of touching, hugging, stroking – mostly in a nonsexual way but with great affection for the other person.

• Kenya is an extremely open and friendly society, so if you know someone well, touching a shoulder or arm in conversation is common, as is plenty of laughter.

• Many Kenyans, particularly those from the village, grow up in often crowded households and have very few personal possessions – everything is shared – so they don’t necessarily have concern for another person’s belongings or space.

Eye Contact

• In certain areas one might not initially make direct eye contact with an elder or more senior person. However this is becoming out dated. The norm is to converse with direct eye contact.

Gestures

• Kenyans don’t usually point with a finger but might jut their chin or point their lips at something to indicate the direction.
• If you are greeting someone whose hands are not clean they might politely choose to grasp your arm at elbow level rather than your hand. This is out of courtesy to you, and you should do the same for others.
• Money is always accepted by extending the right hand out in a cupped way with the left hand resting just above it on the right arm. This signifies the absence of any slight of hand in a money exchange.
• If you enter a Kenyan’s home, you should accept refreshment (tea) if you are offered it to show that you accept their hospitality.
• To beckon someone, or to get their attention, make a tssk sound very loudly and as many times as it takes to alert them. While this is rude in many cultures, in it is very commonplace and acceptable, even largely among Westernized Kenyans in Nairobi. You will quickly discover how effective it is in cutting through even the loudest of dins. Hold your hand up in the air and make a one-handed clapping motion once you have their attention.
• The middle finger is still an insult, just like in the.
• To indicate that a bus, van, or restaurant is full, a Kenyan will hold their left fist closed, and smack the thumb-side of the fist with their open palm of the other hand.

Views of Time

• ‘Africa Time’ is very flexible. It is common to be late or for services to fail to run completely. Kenyans generally take this with good faith, accepting delays as just part of life and beyond their control. Westerners often find it hard to adjust and can come across as demanding and impatient in comparison.
• In a work situation, employees will usually arrive on time, often early, having left more than ample time for their journey as they will be factoring in unseen delays with public transport and along the always bad roads. Heavy rain can slow things down to a standstill.

Gender Roles

• Women are expected to do the majority of the work, especially in rural areas. It is a very patriarchal society, and women still have very traditional, subservient roles, especially in the village. They do most of the work – farming, cooking, cleaning, chopping, caring for children, etc. They are the caretakers of the household.

• In the village, in general, women wear dresses or skirts – no jeans or trousers (though this is changing). They do not drink or smoke, unless they are prostitutes or women of low repute.

• In Nairobi, gender roles and values are very much in line with Western cultures, and trousers, drinking and smoking are common among females.

• In more old fashioned areas, women generally do not give instructions to men. Older men may view this as unacceptable, making it difficult for a working woman (Kenyan or Western) to communicate with older male co workers. Often men will indicate that they are happy to comply with a woman’s requests, but then privately resolve not to carry them out. Things are changing as society modernizes.

Taboos

• Losing ones temper and shouting is considered highly rude. Most disputes are resolved by using humor, or they might simmer under the surface for long periods without confrontation. It’s best to remain polite and smiling, even if frustrated.
• Kenyans tend to dress in a conservative manner with an emphasis on appearing smart and well dressed as a matter of pride. To look sloppy or wear revealing or damaged clothes would mean that a foreigner would instantly lose a degree of respect amongst Kenyans.

Law & Order

• The Kenyan legal system has been derived from British Law following independence in 1963, so drinking age is 18, and although not strictly enforced, it is rare for youngsters to get drunk.
• Possession of marijuana is illegal, but not taken very seriously. Kenya is a trafficking point for hard drugs, however, and offenders will get 10 years, no exceptions.
• There are hundreds of petty offenses, such as talking on a mobile phone whilst driving, and these are generally seen by police as opportunities to extract on the spot “fines”, which they pocket. The alternative is to waste a morning in court, and pay a very small fine – the real penalty is the time-wasting element.

• Stealing is VERY heavily enforced through mob justice, especially in rural areas. Anyone even suspected or accused of stealing – even a cell phone – is likely to be severely beaten, at times to death, by a nearby crowd.

Dress

• For Men- Dark suit, collared shirt, tie, black shoes. In rural areas, people usually put on their Sunday best when going out in public places. Business is no exception. The younger generations – teenagers, and even Kenyans in their 20’s, are heavily influenced by hip-hop culture and dress accordingly, even when conducting business.
• For Women- Dark suit, shirt, low heels, knee length skirt or smart trousers. In the villages, people tend to wear the same if they have it, but they often do not, and will wear the best clothes they do have.

Titles & Business Cards

• First names are now commonly used, although Kenyans often refer to themselves using their surname first. This is further confused by some tribes swapping first and surnames when naming children, particularly the Kikuyu. In other words, Maina Mwangi will name his first born son Mwangi Maina, so it can be very difficult to work out which is a person’s “first” name when being introduced.

• If the person is unknown to you, then to call them by their most distinguished title is appropriate – Mr., Mrs., Dr., etc. Lawyer is not used. If the person is well-known to you, or if the business meeting has a very informal air, then informal greetings are acceptable. Hand shaking is always requisite, however.

• There is no particular protocol for giving/receiving business cards, although they are widely used.

Meetings

• One is expected to turn up on time, but if one is running late (traffic etc) a simple call to the receptionist is seen as polite. It is not uncommon for Kenyans to turn up considerably late and offer no explanation, especially civil servants, but this is gradually becoming rarer.

• In the city, punctuality is valued more than in the village, where people are chronically tardy to business and other meetings. In Nairobi, it's best to show up on time. In the village, it's also a good idea to show up on time, but be prepared for others to be up to an hour late, sometimes more.

• Always greet the eldest woman first, then proceed around the table or room greeting the rest in turn. Shake their hand with a smile, and ask them how they are doing, in Swahili if possible. Small talk is inevitable, and may take up half the meeting.

• Someone will usually be designated as the chair of the meeting; usually the most senior person there. They will also end the meeting.

Negotiations

• Negotiations are always carried out with good humor, but not jocularity. Indian Kenyans and African Kenyans negotiate in different ways, so one tends to give the former wider room for negotiation and the latter more time. Definitely remain calm at all times, neither will give much quarter if they don’t like you and will not respect aggression.
• Aggressive behavior is frowned upon, politeness and a humble approach is the key to win friends and influence people.

• Negotiation is less an art than a necessity. Businesspeople tend to negotiate about everything – though less so in high-end stores in Nairobi. Always expect to bargain. The seller will give you, especially as a white person or American, the highest price possible. This is usually 3-4 times, often more, than what another Kenyan will pay for the same item.

• Business is business, and when the final price is reached, Kenyans will forget all ill will. In many cases the bargaining process may take a long time, depending on the price you are expecting and how touristy the area is. If sellers are used to tourists who shell out the first amount they ask, you will have a tough time bargaining for anything lower, though it can be done. It just takes persistence and a sense of humor.

• A good strategy is to find out beforehand what items are worth to other Kenyans, and start out bargaining at a much lower price than that – the seller may appear offended, but he or she usually knows that it’s all part of the game.

Gift Giving

• This is a difficult subject because the issues of bribery are in the forefront at all times. Small token gifts such as corporate diaries are very much in vogue, particularly if they are seen as simple corporate marketing and have no real value. Valuable gifts, such as holidays, etc., would be a definite no-no, as they would be seen as attempting to buy influence.

• Gift-giving in a business setting depends on the situation and how well you know the people with who you are in business. In the workplace – especially in the village – coworkers are very close, and look out for each other. When one has a sick child, or a death in the family, others at work will contribute money (in what is called “harambee”, or “pulling together” in Swahili). This isn’t considered a gift exactly – it is really a requirement in many social settings if you want to be accepted.

• The other situations in which gifts are given are; when a person is leaving the company or branch; or when a person is coming back from vacation or a business trip to another part of the country. Coworkers will contribute money to buy gifts for the departing individual to remember them by. The departing individual may also buy a gift for them but it is not required.

• When an individual is returning from vacation, particularly to an exotic place, or a location that few people have visited, small gifts native to that location are nice offerings.

In the Classroom

• When it comes to dress, jeans and t-shirts are acceptable for both sexes. It would be unacceptable to wear revealing clothes or turn up without shoes. Shorts are rarely worn by Kenyans.

• Kenyan university students are be privileged to be studying in tertiary education. The majority of young people are forced to go out to work early in order to contribute to the family costs. Many children are not educated above primary level.

• Often family members club together to finance the education of the most promising child, on the understanding that when this child begins work they will repay the loan or contribute to funding the education of a sibling.

• Students pretty much follow what the teachers say. Kenyans respect elders although this aspect of the culture is slowly fading away. Teachers have a lot of power in Kenya, especially in the rural areas, where teachers are the most respected people.

Other Observations

• When/if inundated by street hawkers, a polite: ‘no thank you not today, maybe tomorrow’ is often the most effective way of dealing with the situation.

• Tea is taken fairly promptly and regularly at 10am and 4pm; a vestige of the British colonial era. Actually, much of Kenyan society still operates as if it were part of the colony, and white people are often treated with preference; whether to receive service at a restaurant or bar or elsewhere. Foreigners, and Americans and Europeans in particular, are treated as if they were all independently wealthy.

• Business is not necessarily just business. Coworkers consider each other like family in many instances, and become best friends. They will plan get-togethers outside of work often.