The budding microfinance institutions are said to be an answer to the financial needs of the poor but zeroing in on their operations reveals that their interest pricing policies are, on many occasions, as ambitious as those of commercial banks. Further, productive capacities are largely dependent on ideas and know how, which are in short supply for the less educated and less exposed participants of the poor man’s economy and as a result financing may not have a multiplier effect in growing these small businesses. Herein, business activity is geared towards survival, a kiosk cum grocery shop here and a barber shop there, something to put bread on the table. Indeed, it is only a little business that trickles down from the rich man’s economy to the poor man’s economy given that most large to medium sized firm’s do not significantly engage smaller businesses – big business talks to big business. Consequently, most of the smaller enterprises never grow but merely persist with the sole purpose of providing sustenance to their owners, more so, since they do not have a direct plug in into big business they are doomed to stay frozen in the vicious hand-to-mouth cycle of the poor man’s economy.

Indeed, the dual economy is alive and kicking. It has not come about by dint of some old fashioned caste system but rather it is brought about by the existence of two economic systems operating within one; more commonly known as the formal and informal economies. The two economies operate side by side and hardly interact with the majority of Kenyans circling in the orbit of the informal economy. Many Kenyans do not still have bank accounts, although banks like Equity have alleviated the situation, and as a result their association to the formal economy is very limited. In addition, a large portion of the population’s subsistence is still based on traditional farming with limited instances of commercialization.