How to Start contributing to Open Source?

If you are active in any developer community, chances are you have come across the buzzword opensource. What is it all about, why should you be a part of the open-source movement and how to get started with contributing to Open Source projects! I’ve got it all covered for you in one place!

What is OpenSource?

Any software released under a license which the copyright holder grants users the right to use, study, change, and distribute the software and its source code to anyone for any purpose is called Open Source Software (OSS). OSS is usually developed in a collaborative public manner. Open source projects and initiatives make use of the principles of open exchange, collaborative participation, transparency, and community-oriented development.

The Open Source Software movement is a movement that supports the use of open-source licenses for software, a part of the broader notion of open collaboration. The movement was started to spread the concept/idea of open-source software. Developers who support the open source movement contribute to the open-source community by voluntarily writing and exchanging code for software development.

Today, OSS is the secret sauce that greases the internet’s wheels, with over 78% of the businesses being built on Open source software!

Why Should You Contribute?

Community

For most developers, contributing to open source is being part of the larger open source movement, a part of something much bigger than a single individual. It provides a sense of community and agency over one’s own life and the software that you use.

Upskilling

Whether it’s coding, design, or even writing, if you’re looking for a place to practice and upskill yourself, there’s a task for you on an open source project!

Build a Portfolio

Contributing to open source projects can also be an interesting addition to your work portfolio, which you can use as samples of your work available in the public domain.

Network

Alongside all the above-mentioned reasons, the OSS community is also the best place to network with like-minded people from the tech community. Many people find mentors, collaborators and teachers, who are all interested in the community’s wellbeing.

Ready to Contribute?

Myth: You need to write code to Contribute!

This is a myth that I often encounter in my circle of friends, which is absolutely baseless. Open source is much more than just code. Successful open source projects include code, usability, community and documentation together. Without documentation, your code is useless as it cannot be used to its full potential. Additionally, while making your first contribution is surely scary, making a non-code contribution can ease your way into the OSS community. Additionally, the process of collaboration will build your confidence and experience.

Other ways you can Contribute:

• Writing Documentation

• Organising Events Around Open Source Projects

• Improving Design, Layout, UI/UX of the project

• Support Queries - Answering questions and FAQs around using the project on forums like StackExchange.

Warming Up to Get Started

Every Open Source project has the following type of People:

1. Author: The person/s or organization that created the project.

2. Maintainers: Contributors who are responsible for managing the project.

3. Contributors: Everyone who has contributed something to the project; be it code, design or even documentation.

4. Community: People who use the project for various purposes.

Before we dive into how to get started, let’s get ourselves equipped with some basic open-source terminologies:

Git

In open source projects, many developers work on a single project. In this case, there is one original file that each developer has a copy of and is working on. This is where Git comes in and simplifies the process.

In Git, each change in any file is tracked down and this can be easily pushed to the original file. This avoids any sort of issue where everyone edits the original file without knowing each other’s code.

“Git is a free and open-source distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency.”

Additionally, it becomes easy to go back to the previous code if there is a bug in the new code and making it compatible with the previous code again.

GitHub

Git provides control over the source code, and GitHub is a platform that uses git version control to upload open source projects to their cloud for sharing code with others. Git is local while GitHub is cloud-based, allowing developers to easily work together on projects.

Issue tracker

Issue Tracker is a  way to keep track of tasks, enhancements, and bugs for your projects. They can be shared and discussed with the rest of your team.

Pull requests

Pull request is created for the change in code or documentation that is ready to merge into the original code after approval by the maintainer of the repository. Such changes can be discussed and reviews before merging into the repository.

README

README is an instruction manual that welcomes members to the project. It should clearly explain why the project is useful and how to get started with using the project.

Code of Conduct

A code of conduct is a document that establishes expectations for social behaviour from all of your project’s participants. A code of conduct can help create a positive atmosphere for your community and may help distance yourself from avoidable conflicts.

Contributing Docs

Contributing docs assist people in contributing to the project. It explains how to contribute and what sort of contributions are required.

Not every project has a Contributing file.

Finding a Project!

Now that you have all the background information you need to get started, you need to find an open-source project to get started on. **

The best way to find a project to start working on is to start contributing on a project you already use or find interesting. For such projects, you’ve probably already had thoughts crossing your mind like, “what if this was better?” or “I wish someone would fix this bug!”.

You might read through the documentation and find an issue that you think should really be in the documentation. Instead of tip-toeing around it, or asking someone else to fix it, make it your chance to step in. That’s what open source is all about! This is the best place to start your first open-source contribution.

Additionally, every open source project has a /contribute page that shows issues you can start out with. Navigate to the main page of the repository on GitHub, and then add /contribute at the end of the URL.

https://github.com/typesense/typesense/contribute

Getting started

Now that you have found your repository of choice as well as a contribution to make to it, it’s time to submit your contribution to the project.

Note: Before doing anything, make sure your idea hasn’t been discussed elsewhere. Go through the project’s README, and issues in detail. If you can’t find your idea elsewhere, proceed with it.

Before you can open an issue or pull request, you need to check the project’s contributing docs, to see whether you need to include anything specific. Some projects may need you to follow a specific template while raising a pull request or issue.

Opening a Pull Request

As mentioned above, a pull request is used to make changes in code or documentation.

It is better to open a pull request early on, so others can give you feedback on your progress. Especially so if the changes are not trivial.

Step 1: Fork the repo by Pressing Fork in the top right corner of your Github window.

Step 2: Next, clone the repo by opening the terminal on your computer using the below code. Use your GitHub username instead of <YourUserName>

git clone https://github.com/<YourUserName>/typesense

Step 3: Change to the repository directory on your computer. Then create a new branch and create a new remote for the upstream repo.

In this case, "upstream repo" refers to the original repo you created your fork from.

cd Typesense

git checkout -b new_branch

git remote add upstream https://github.com/<YourUsername>/chatwoot

Step 4: Make changes to the code. Add those changes to the branch you just created using the git add command:

git add

git commit -m "your_commit_message"

Step 5: Push your changes using the command:

git push origin <branch-name-that-you-created>

Step 6: Once you push the changes to your repo, the “Compare & pull request” button will appear on GitHub. Clicking on it will lead you to a window where you can create a pull request. This allows the repo's maintainers to review your contribution. From here, they can merge it if it is good, or they may ask you to make some changes.

It is always better to provide clear understanding of your request in the pull request title and comments so that the maintainer can understand what you've worked on.

🥳Congratulations, you are now an open-source contributor!

Post-Submission

Once you submitted your submission, one of many things may happen!

1. Your contribution is accepted!

Good for you if this happens! Your Contribution is officially accepted.

1. Your contribution is rejected

Don’t be disheartened, this is not a failure. In this case, you can ask the maintainer for feedback and clarification to make use of in the future.

1. Someone requests a change to your contribution

This could be feedback on the scope of your idea or changes to your code. Respect the time and energy that they’ve taken to review your contribution. Opening a Pull Request and walking away is not respectable. If you don’t know how to make changes, feel free to ask for help if you need it.

I hope this has motivated you to make your very first open-source contribution! Welcome to the OSS Community! We hope this is one of the many more great contributions you are about to make to the community.

To find the original version of this article published on Aviyel, Click here

Women in Finance: Hurdles in Climbing the Corporate Ladder

By Prachi Jain & Charu Veluthoor

Women are majorly under-represented in the financial sector. Despite an increase in women graduating from business schools and other related financial degrees programs, the numbers do not look promising in the c-suite level of the workplace. While women are almost equally represented at entry-level positions in this industry, the numbers drop sharply at the executive level. The under-representation of women in the financial sector has been recognized to be a result of multiple underlying factors ranging from structural elements at the workplace like gender biases to societal expectations and familial responsibilities. Through this paper, we attempt to study these underlying factors and consequently suggest policy implications to improve the representation of women in finance. As we discuss in our paper, some of these factors are either unique or more pertinent to the sector. This paper explores two things: first, the individual and familial choices of women in response to factors that are specific to the financial sector that force women to drop out of the industry and secondly, the structural problems women face within the sector that prevent them from reaching c-suite level positions. In the end, we suggest policy measures that can help increase the number of women in this sector and the limitations of the current research in this domain. 

Individual and Family Choices

Most recent literature attributes the high dropout rate of women between entry-level to c-suite level jobs to more individual choices that women make due to the nature of the financial sector. With its long working hours, the sector does not seem to be the choice of industry for folks who prioritize their work-life balance, and is particularly true for mothers. Data from the Pew Research Center (2020) shows that mothers are more likely to quit a job, work fewer hours, or take significant time off of work than fathers in the US. One of the primary reasons for this is that women adjust their careers for their families. This may be because traditional gender roles assigned to women and the gender wage gap make the opportunity costs of the man not working higher. Studies show a strongly gendered labor response to parenthood: women dramatically decrease their employment and work fewer hours if employed, whereas men’s employment and hours worked barely change (Sin, 2018). Among women in senior-level positions, a study from McKinsey & Company (2018) found the inability to balance family and work is cited by half of the senior-level women as a significant reason for not wanting to pursue top executive roles. This finding is perhaps not surprising, given that as women’s responsibilities at work increase with seniority in the financial sector, they are seen to maintain their responsibilities at home. Nearly half of senior-level women say they continue to shoulder most household responsibilities, while just 13 percent of their male peers say the same. 

Literature suggests that these effects are exemplified in careers with non-linear wage structures, such as finance and consulting. Such compensation includes performance-based pay, bonus systems based on defined metrics, and pay based on subjective performance which often exhibit non-linear characteristics. Non-linear wage structures prevalent in the financial services industry are seen as not attractive to mothers, who have a strong preference for flexible work hours. Therefore, mothers are willing to trade lower pay for more flexible work hours, according to Bütikofer et al (2018), and leave their high-paying financial sector jobs for other sectors. In particular, Bütikofer et al suggest that women in more non-linear wage structures—like finance—suffer from a more persistent child wage penalty than women in professions with a more linear wage structure—STEM and medicine.  

Additionally, since financial sector jobs are mostly located in big cities, promotions often require relocation. Turning down an opportunity to avoid relocating one’s family seems to be another hurdle. Women are more likely than men to have geographical limits on their careers (Markham 1987; Steil and Weltman 1991). Studies show that over 34% of women in finance reported geographical restrictions in their jobs in finance (Blair-Loy, 1999).

Structural Challenges

Various structural problems at the workplace contribute to the low number of women at the executive level. Women frequently encounter what is commonly referred to as the glass ceiling. The Glass Ceiling Commission, 2003 defined the glass ceiling as the “artificial barriers that prevent qualified individuals from advancing within their organization and reaching full potential” (Akpinar-Sposito, 2013). These barriers can take many forms—the most important is the problem of gender wage gaps: women are paid significantly less than men for the same work at the same position. Akpinar-Sposito (2013) talks about the lack of mentoring and training programs for women and other underrepresented minorities. Women managers also tend to be evaluated less favourably, receive less support from their peers, are excluded from essential networks, and receive greater scrutiny and criticism even when performing the same leadership roles as men (Sabharwal, 2013). Leadership positions have traditionally been associated with men—it is tough for women to break that mindset. One of the most important reasons why all these barriers are more prevalent in the financial sector is because the sector is perceived to be more masculine in nature (Meeks, 2014). Young women who pursue finance in college report seeing their male peers bond with internship interviewers on masculine topics like fantasy football. In classes, they report being taught about men like Warren Buffett and Benjamin Graham (Meeks, 2014). Many women who infact are successful in the field attribute their success to their comfort in this masculine environment. This thinking can pressure women to assimilate to the masculine culture to advance in the field, and this might create a barrier for women who don’t want to mask their femininity in order to succeed (Meeks, 2014). 

Policy Implications

Some policy measures that the finance industry can take to mitigate the problem are as follows: first, the industry needs to rebrand itself and demonstrate that it is a sector in which women can thrive. Doing so will help improve female representation at the earlier stages of the career funnel and is particularly important in subsectors, such as asset management and wholesale banking, where women start out below parity (Chin et al., 2018). A rebranding of financial services will require its leaders to commit to change, not only by taking action to make their own companies places where women can thrive but also by voicing their commitment to the industry. Second, there is a need to increase access to sponsorship. Sponsorship matters to women at all career stages. It is even more important in this sector because in financial services, senior-level women are more likely than their entry-level peers and senior-level women in other industries to say that sponsorship played an important role in their careers (Chin et al., 2018). Financial services companies can expand offerings for formal sponsorship programs. At present, only 58 percent have such programs (Chin et al., 2018). These should be designed specifically to address the challenges that hinder entry-level women from advancement into the senior ranks. Also, while female role models are crucial, both men and women should serve as sponsors and mentors to ensure that women build the diverse networks they need in their careers. 

Third, companies should try to eliminate bias in reviews and promotions which will boost the lagging promotion rate for entry-level women and help alleviate senior-level women’s sense that their gender has hindered their advancement (Chin et al., 2018). It is therefore especially important for the financial services industry to address the biases—often unconscious—that are holding back female talent. Fourth, the sector needs to give women the flexibility to balance work & family. Although flexibility programs are actually common across the financial sector with, currently, nearly 90 percent of financial-services companies offering extended maternity and/or paternity leave, and 92 percent offering flexible work policies, women—especially senior-level women—fear that partaking in flexibility programs might hinder their advancement (Chin et al., 2018). Companies must encourage leaders of both genders to signal their acceptance and usage of these flexible working policies. Additionally, companies should foster open dialogues about how policies could be enhanced to meet employees’ and their families' needs better. 

Limitations and the Way Ahead

We realize that there are numerous reasons why women do not climb the corporate ladder in the financial sector. The root cause of women dropping out of the industry is most likely a combination of various factors we have discussed. However, there are intersectionalities that we have missed out on—women belonging to minority groups when it comes to race, ethnicity, region, and disability most likely witness a multitude of further challenges in the sector. We see that marginalized groups are further underrepresented in the industry. Though many of the structural and familial factors affect women from these groups alike, there may be other layers of hurdles posed to them. 

To mitigate the underrepresentation of women in senior-level positions in finance, diversity needs to become a universal objective. Eliminating the structural hurdles of climbing the corporate ladder within the financial sector is critical for the sector’s success in the long run, with the customer base growing to include more and more women, everyday. Companies in the sector need to change their composition to attract and retain their clients’ wealth better. Thus, the need to increase women’s participation in the sector is essential from both a societal and an economic standpoint. 

References

Akpinar-Sposito, C. (2013). Career barriers for women executives and the Glass Ceiling Syndrome: The case study comparison between French and Turkish women executives. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 75, 488–497. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.04.053 

Blair‐Loy, Mary. “Career Patterns of Executive Women in Finance: An Optimal Matching Analysis.” American Journal of Sociology, vol. 104, no. 5, 1999, pp. 1346–1397., https://doi.org/10.1086/210177. 

​​Brock N. “Glass Ceiling in Financial Services Proves Tough to Shatter.” BrinkNews, 4 Dec. 2014, https://www.brinknews.com/glass-ceiling-in-financial-services-proves-tough-to-shatter/

Bütikofer, Aline, et al. “The Role of Parenthood on the Gender Gap among Top Earners.” European Economic Review, vol. 109, 2018, pp. 103–123., https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2018.05.008. 

Chin, Stacey, et al. “Closing the Gap: Leadership Perspectives on Promoting Women in Financial Services.” McKinsey & Company, McKinsey & Company, 12 Apr. 2022, https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/financial-services/our-insights/closing-the-gap-leadership-perspectives-on-promoting-women-in-financial-services. 

Markham, William T., and Joseph H. Pleck. “Sex and Willingness to Move for Occupational Advancement: Some National Sample Results.” The Sociological Quarterly, vol. 27, no. 1, 1986, pp. 121–43, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4106169. Accessed 25 Apr. 2022.

Parker, Kim. “Women More than Men Adjust Their Careers for Family Life.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 14 Aug. 2020, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/10/01/women-more-than-men-adjust-their-careers-for-family-life/. 

Sabharwal, M. (2013). From glass ceiling to Glass Cliff: Women in senior executive service. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 25(2), 399–426. https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/mut030 

Sin, Isabelle, and Gail Pacheco. “How Parenthood Continues to Cost Women More than Men.” The Conversation, 21 Apr. 2022, https://theconversation.com/how-parenthood-continues-to-cost-women-more-than-men-97243. 

Steil, Janice M., and Karen Weltman. 1991. “Marital Inequality: The Importance of Resources, Personal Attributes, and Social Norms on Career Valuing and the Allocation of Domestic Responsibilities.” Sex Roles 24:161–79.

Potential positive consequences of international migration for the development of the domestic economy

Potential concerns with International migration

Widespread international migration of high-skilled labor from the domestic economy to foreign countries is a concern for any nation. The fiscal cost of such migration may be specifically high, particularly so if higher education is subsidized in the nation using taxpayer's money, and those benefitting from such subsidies do not contribute back to the tax system of the nation (Bhagwati and Hamada, 1974). Additionally, the widespread migration of high-skilled labor in the form of professionals such as doctors and academics, deprives the domestic economy of essential services such as healthcare and education, due to a shortage of skilled labor within the country. 

Why International Migration can be a boon in disguise for Developing Economies

As international migration of skilled labor increases, education levels in the domestic economy are also seen to rise. Defoort (2008) finds that the education level of the home workforce increases at a rate similar to that of tertiary-educated migrants from the country, essentially implying over time that the migration is substituted with domestic skilled labor over time. This would mean that in the long run, not all those who choose to increase their education because of the chance they may migrate, actually end up migrating. Hence, providing more opportunities to skilled professionals from the domestic economy to work abroad might not deplete supplies of medical workers at home, but could raise them by increasing the incentives for people in the domestic economy to gain skills and education. Additionally, for nations like India, international migration has had great positive implications for the nation, resulting in the reverse flow in income, investment and expertise from the global Indian diaspora. 

International Migration: A Boon or Bane? 

International migration is a complex policy question that makes any economist or policy-maker think twice. According to Theories of International trade, two nations with unequal resource endowments can enjoy a bilateral increase in economic well-being by freely exchanging capital, goods, and labor (Martin and Richards, 1980). Permitting free exchange, therefore, increases the output available to both nations. However, theory differs from practice in the distinction that countries place greater concern on the welfare of their own citizens, while theory treats the welfare of all equally. International migration benefits migrants and their employers but may force citizens of the foreign country to compete with migrants for jobs, housing, and public goods. Therefore, even if total output in both nations increases, migration is mutually beneficial only if its effects on each country's income distribution are relatively small. Hence, there is no right or wrong answer to the question if international migration is a boon or a bane. 

Roses from Kenya: How Kenya is becoming the world’s flower Capital

Background

Flowers are an inherent part of cultures across the world. Flowers have been integrated into societal norms of many cultures for decades as decoration and as displays of affection. However, flowers are no longer straightforward goods produced in close quarters in this globalized world. Many flowers placed in supermarkets of major global cities travel over half the planet to get there, from countries like Kenya. 

Source: Kenya National Bureau of Statistics

This paper attempts to explain how Kenya, one of the latest entrants into this market, has become the third-largest exporter of flowers, with clear comparative advantages alongside all necessary factors required for success in the global flower market. I begin by setting context as to when and how Kenya entered the market and the optimal conditions for Kenya’s success, the paper goes on to then explain that these factors can fit into the Heckscher-Ohlin model of international trade and explain Kenya’s success in floriculture. It concludes by looking at how the rise of the floriculture industry in Kenya has also had its adverse effects despite being a success story. 

Where It All Started

The international flower trade market began at the Royal Flora Holland auction house at Aalsmeer in the Netherlands. The Dutch continued to have a near-monopoly over the global flower trade for over 100 years and are still very prominent players in the market, with over 80% reaching European and North American markets via the Netherlands. However, starting from the early 2000s, the global flower market has seen a significant shift in production. The Netherlands no longer holds a monopoly, and new players have emerged. Countries like Kenya, Ecuador and Colombia have captured a major market share of the flourishing global market due to their comparative advantages in production. 

Today the global flower market is worth over 54 Billion US Dollars (2020) and has been growing at a rapid pace. Kenya has been riding this particular wave of growth with a CAGR of over 18% per annum since 2010. This is attributed to its comparative advantages in production, compounded by trade policy and geographical closeness. Before we get into the specific factors contributing to this high growth, it would help to look into how Kenya grew into a floriculture tycoon. 

Kenya started exporting flowers for the first time in the 1970s alongside its horticulture exports, due to the similar growing conditions and perishable nature of both goods. However well into the 1980s, the market was still characterized as low value with no defined cultivation areas. The late 1980s was when full-fledged commercial floriculture began in Kenya, with high-value flowers being grown in greenhouses by exporters. Jenson (2005) reports that the total land area used in floriculture increased by 250% from 1990 to 2000. The industry also attracted large amounts of foreign investment in its early years, from the formerly dominant flower producer the Netherlands, who were seeking alternatives to Europe-based flower production. This was also supported by the European Economic Community development grants and import preferences alongside encouragement from the Kenyan government. Experts believe that this early investment led to upgradation of the nation’s technology and market know-how. 

Early research suggests that the flower cluster in Lake Naivasha benefitted from existing clusters of horticulture and tourism. Horticulture being a similar industry provided the critical mass to develop training and research institutions in the agricultural business domain. Additionally, due to the similar nature of goods, floriculture was able to benefit from the horticulture industry’s distribution channels. Kenya’s vibrant tourism industry results in flights arriving from many European countries, with spare capacity on flights back from Kenya. This had initially provided cargo capacity for cut flower exports to Europe. As the sector expanded, however, the industry has secured chartered cargo carriers for transportation. The slow growth before the 1980s is attributed to the absence of a value chain that could handle the logistical complexities of transporting highly-perishable produce. A culmination of these factors were responsible for Kenya’s entrance into floriculture. 

Kenya’s Comparative Advantage in Production

Kenya’s horticulture industry, dominated by floriculture, is the second-largest contributor to the country’s foreign exchange earnings, accounting for around 14% of Kenya’s total exports(Ksoll, Macchiavello and Morjaria 2009). Kenya’s comparative advantage is driven by many factors. We go into each one in-depth in this section. 

1. Market Composition

Kenya is a developing economy with a growing young population and hence is home to cheap labor. The availability of both inexpensive skilled and unskilled labor has been a large boon for the floriculture industry in Kenya. While unskilled labor pre-existed prior to the boom of the sector, skilled labor with technical knowledge was a result of the setting up of educational and research institutions with government investment. Institutes like the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute and the Jomo Kenyatta University Of Agriculture And Technology have created a skilled workforce with advanced technological knowledge of the sector. 

The availability of a skilled workforce, functional quality control and regulatory authority and other government incentives have fostered the rapid growth rate experienced in the industry. Experts have shown that sectors like floriculture and horticulture do not require direct intervention from the government; rather, the government should recognize the need for a robust private sector as the engine of commercial growth. This is something that Kenya seems to have done correctly. While the government provides necessary support through providing infrastructure, support to attract investment and setting up of research institutions to improve the skill of the workforce, the government does not directly involve in production and takes a hands-off approach. This gives room for robust private sector participation in the cut flower industry in Kenya. 

2. Organized Air Freight Capacity and Logistics Management

As mentioned earlier, superior air freight and logistics management is one of the major factors that enabled Kenya’s entrance and early growth in the floriculture industry. Air freight though initially was a by-product of the tourism industry has now emerged as a separate support industry to Kenyan horticulture and floriculture exports. Over 90% of Kenyan flower exports are today handled by four specialized air freight forwarders, three of which are owned or linked to top flower exporters. The industry is well organized and is able to aggregate all perishable horticultural produce effectively and are in turn able to secure good air freight purchasing parity. Additionally, larger exporters also have a great logistical infrastructure for distribution to the mass market retailers, post exporting. With the current trend in the flower market, retailers are looking to sell cut flowers with customer labels and codes already in place. Kenyan exporters have kept up with trends of the European markets by adapting to them. This is something that newer entrants of the market will have a hard time cracking and currently provides Kenyan exporters with an advantage over exports from other nations. 

3. Natural Resources

Kenya’s cut-flower industry is situated mainly around Lake Naivasha, a freshwater lake to the northwest of Nairobi. Flower cultivation is a water-intensive process, and the location provides ample water for the irrigation of flowers. Additionally, flower cultivation requires large inhabited land with good quality alluvial soil, available around Lake Naivasha. To top it all off, the area is also home to optimum climatic and rainfall conditions, making it well suited for growing high-value flowers like roses, which Kenya is known for producing.  

The abundance of good climate all year round due to proximity to the equator is one of Kenya’s biggest plus points. While the former masters of the floriculture industry in Europe required high energy requirements to maintain their greenhouses, the Kenyan floriculture market has a clear advantage of lesser energy and infrastructural requirements due to its climatic conditions which are adequate for the production of high-value flowers. This reduction in environmental modification cost is one of the key drivers of Kenya’s floriculture market. 

4. Trade Relationships 

Kenya’s major flower export destination is the European Union. This is not a pure coincidence but a result of the trade deals and geopolitical closeness of the EU with Kenya. Under the reciprocal EPA signed between EU and African nations, which allow tariff-free international trade for certain commodities, including roses. This gives the country a clear advantage over some of its competitors. 

Additionally, as mentioned earlier 

Another factor that assisted Kenyan floriculture was the expulsion of the Asian community (majority Indians, due to Indophobic sentiments) from Uganda in 1972, many of whom emigrated to, and established import businesses in, the United Kingdom. This helped with penetrating supermarkets because many Kenyan Asians in the fruit and vegetable trade had familial and social connections with those expelled from Uganda.

Heckscher-Ohlin Model of International Trade

Relative differences in countries’ resource endowments are critical to the standard version of the Heckscher-Ohlin theory of international trade. It states that a country will export the good which requires the intensive use of the country’s relatively abundant (and therefore cheap) factor for its production and import the good, which requires the intensive use of the country’s relatively scarce (and therefore expensive) factor for its production.

In this case, Kenya is relatively resource endowed predominantly with cheap labor compared to the European nations and UK it exports to. On the other hand, Kenya exports most of its cars from European countries like the UK and Germany, which are relatively highly resource endowed. 

Additionally, the climatic conditions lower the cost of production due to lower energy requirements than European countries. Hence, the Heckscher-Ohlin Principles explain that Kenya has a strong comparative advantage in the production of Roses to its primary competitor Netherlands among others. This is demonstrated by Figure 2. 

Figure 2

Policy Implications

Agriculture is a major contributor to Kenya's GDP and the majority of citizens depend on it partially or completely for income and employment. The agricultural sector contributes about 33% of Kenya’s total GDP and contributes an additional 27% through interdependence with other sectors such as distribution and services. It employs more than 40% of the total population of which a majority are women. Hence, Kenya is a predominantly agrarian country. In a century where most nations are shifting their concentration from agriculture to manufacturing and service sectors, Kenya seems to have found success in agricultural exports. However, experts suggest that Labour productivity in agriculture in 30 Sub-Saharan African countries including Kenya is only 28% of non-agricultural labour productivity, so moving resources from agriculture to manufacturing and service sectors will help aggregate productivity change. This has numerous implications for the economy and the future of Kenyans.

While over the last two decades, Kenya has made a mark with its service sector exports, agriculture remains one of the top priorities of the Kenyan government. In Kenya’s development programme titled Kenya Vision 2030, launched to help transform Kenya into a "newly industrializing, middle-income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030”, agriculture still plays an important role. While the government has diverted considerable resources into development of the service sector, particularly the IT and Telecom sector, agriculture still ranks among the goals of Kenya Vision 2030. However, with a reformed goal; to increase the value of agriculture. 

One major reason for the government to still invest in agriculture is because Kenya is a country still grappling with a food security crisis. While a majority of the country is employed in agriculture and agricultural exports, the country still struggles to ensure nutritional security to all. The Kenyan Government has recently also developed the Agricultural Sector Transformation and Growth Strategy (ASTGS; 2019-2029) as a move towards sustainable agricultural transformation and food security in Kenya.  ASTGS focuses on the modernisation of own farm production, shifting production towards value addition, creating a revitalised system of strategic and commercial food stock management and increasing the local rice production through the Kenya National Trading Corporation (KNTC). I strongly believe that improving the efficiency and productivity of agriculture is crucial to Kenya’s welfare. However, this does not necessarily mean that other sectors like the service sector should be neglected. 

Kenya was quick to realise that the service sector was the best way for the nation’s economic growth, and has quickly risen to becoming a prominent player providing IT, Telecom and Financial services to most Sub Saharan African nations, and has been nicknamed the Silicone Savannah. The government has been actively looking at ways to boost the service sector in the country and move its large workforce into the service sector by investing heavily in education. Hence, the growth of floriculture and other agriculture related businesses has resulted in an increase in value of the industry but has not particularly stagnated the service sector as expected. 

One important implication of the boom of floriculture and horticulture exports in Kenya is shift in labor force composition. While most nations around the world have pulled out a significant portion of the agricultural workforce towards other sectors, Kenya witnessed a reverse trend in the early 2000s when the agricultural exports grew multifold. This puts the economy at an extremely precarious situation where the country became dependent on multiple uncontrollable factors such as climate and rainfall for the sustenance of more than half the population. Post the early 2005, however, there has been a fall in the percentage of the labour force employed in agriculture. This can be attributed to the rise of the service sector, and improvements in efficiency of agriculture due to better technology, making it less labor intensive.  

Employment in Agriculture as a Percentage of Total Employment, Modelled on ILO estimates 

Source: World Bank

Challenges Ahead

1. Trade Policy

Kenya currently trades cut flowers with the European Union under a trade agreement termed the European Union’s market access regulation. The policy allows Kenyan flowers, among other exports, a tariff-free entry into the EU. This has been widely contested at the WTO, as it violates WTO’s guidelines, by giving preferential status to Kenyan exports over exports from nations not part of this trade deal. 

Removal of this preferential status will be precarious to Kenya’s booming flower economy, as many of its close competitors such as Ethiopia, which qualifies as a Least Developed Country under the Everything But Arms special arrangement of the European Union is eligible to a duty-free entry into EU. 

The EU has been negotiating the EU-EAC (East-African Community) trade deals since 2014. The EPA forces African countries to open up to 80% of their markets to European imports. In exchange, participating East African states receive tariff-free access to the European market. However, Kenya is the only nation that has ratified the deal. Other member nations are not eager to sign as they all qualify as Least Developed Countries, and already have preferential tariff-free access to European markets. These countries have comparatively less developed economies than Kenya and are worried that European imports will flood the local economy, competing with domestic goods. 

Currently, Kenyan floriculture corporations continue to export under the EU’s Generalised System of Preferences regime until the reinstatement process is over. The failure to have the EAC-EU agreement would result in a catastrophic loss for the Kenyan floriculture industry, as over 90% of its exports are to the EU, and pose a significant challenge to the Kenyan floriculture industry. 

2)Social Concerns

Kenyan floriculture is largely dependant on female labor participation, with over 75% of those employed in the horticulture sector identifying as women. There have been many reports of human rights violations, and workers not receiving even a subsistence wage, compounded with poor working conditions, excessive overtime, sexual harassment and employment insecurity among others. 

3)Environmental degradation

Latest reports suggest that due to intense floriculture around Lake Naivasha, the flower farms may be killing the lake. Experts say that the farms have used water from the lake for irrigation purposes in return dump pesticide waste back into the lake. Long-ignored by policymakers, the situation has recently reached taken light due to thousands of fish and other freshwater organisms perishing in the lake. This points to the lack of environmental policy neccessary for sustainable growth. 

Conclusion

We find that there are a multitude of factors responsible for the success of Kenya’s floriculture industry ranging from historical trade relationships to good governance. Kenya's initial plunge into floriculture was driven not just by its optimal growing conditions, similar to many of its competitors. It was complemented by the interests of Dutch capitalists, who heavily funded the industry in its initial years as well as the existing tourism industry in Kenya that provided for organised air freight and logistical capacity. We also find that success of an agricultural business like floriculture, poses hurdles to Kenya’s service sector growth, however, the nation has been fairly successful in finding a balance between both sectors. The nation is attempting to maximise its efficiency in the agricultural sector and has been slowly moving its agri-dependant labor force towards the service sector. We conclude by looking at the environmental and social costs of cut-flower trade in Kenya. Through the course of this paper we examine how a good, as simple as cut-flowers, journey from field to consumer is a long and complex one. We believe the next big step for Kenya will be finding robust social and environmental solutions to make sure it’s floriculture success is sustainable. 

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