SideHustle Global: Kenya Trip

The trip proved transformational for students, creating an incomparable instructional experience that went far beyond an introduction to emerging markets or impact investing.

Through seven different site visits to Kenyan start-ups that actively address market gaps while centering human and environmental impacts, students encountered entrepreneurship as a lived, complex, and deeply contextual practice. “Our trip to Kibera (the largest slum in Nairobi and one of the largest urban slums in Africa) allowed students to see, firsthand, that the wants, needs, and characteristics of people living in one of the most impoverished areas are no different than those of more privileged people,” says Bropleh.

Although the trip took place in early January, the journey began long before students boarded flights and arrived in Nairobi. The idea was sparked by a conversation between Bropleh, Bridgette Gunnels, Associate Dean and Director of the Center for Pathways & Purpose, and Provost (then Dean of Oxford College) Badia Ahad. “My immediate response was that while I would be happy to speak to students on campus, we should consider organizing a trip to an African country similar to the one students had taken to London,” says Bropleh.

After months of joint effort and finalizing details, one of the main objectives of this course was for students to explore what global entrepreneurship means through texts and then demonstrate it through on-the-ground experience.

The program began with a basic question: how can we help students grasp global innovation beyond theory? It then evolved into a well-structured experience that integrated academic learning, cultural understanding, and on-the-ground engagement in Kenya. She says, “When you include the added element of dedicated alumni support, the ‘Kenyan experience’ became a once-in-a-lifetime Oxford experience.”

Bropleh collaborated with Gunnels to share several case studies and articles to provide students with context for what they would encounter upon arrival in Kenya. The case studies the students read explained the problems companies were trying to solve, how they approached them, the challenges they faced, and how they managed them. He also visited the class to discuss expectations for the trip and to address general and specific questions. Many of the students had never been to Kenya before, so they came with preconceptions on what it would be like. For Nithin Krishnan 28Ox, he says, “Growing up, I always had an idea of Kenya as a beautiful country with mountains and the most amazing wildlife known to mankind." The country's entrepreneurial scene wasn't the initial focus for many students. With those expectations in mind, the students arrived in Kenya prepared to observe but quickly found themselves challenged to reconsider what they thought they knew. 

Their daily site visits, conversations with founders, and immersion in local communities revealed a far more complex reality than many had anticipated. Krishnan 28Ox recalls being amazed by how entrepreneurs in Kenya worked against the odds. He says, “The government bureaucracy did not favour them, while they were actively attempting to gain the trust of their locals. Moreover, they relied solely on the expertise gained from their prior experiences. Despite everything against them, they still managed to persist in the market conditions and thrive purely because of their impact motive.” 

For Bropleh, this shift within perspective was intentional. After a week on the ground, he wanted students to be challenged, to go beyond surface observations, and to examine the systems that shape entrepreneurship in emerging markets.

One of Bropleh’s goals was to have students answer five key questions during their experience:

1. How companies balance financial sustainability with social and environmental impact.
2. How do they skip traditional evolution to adopt advanced solutions?
3. How entrepreneurs navigate between global practices and local realities.
4. Situations requiring resourcefulness with limited capital.
5. Comparing preconceptions of Kenya with firsthand observations grounded in reality.

As the week progressed, students began to recognize patterns across the ventures they visited. “A very interesting story from a few of the founders was that they came to Kenya with a "savior" mindset, which is very common, given the scarce information people have of Kenya and other African countries.” says Varma, “Overtime, they shifted their mindset away from that through integrating themselves into the culture and learning so much from the  community.” These understandings challenged students to reconsider what constitutes effective entrepreneurship in contexts shaped by distinct economic, social, and infrastructural realities.

To move students beyond tourist observations and toward thinking like founders and investors, this experience was intentionally designed to be both intensive and fast-paced. The schedule was dense, maximizing the limited time on the ground and making sure that each visit was built upon the last.

Learning on the ground also shifted the experience's energy in ways conventional case studies could not. Meeting entrepreneurs in person and witnessing operations firsthand exposed variations that rarely translate to the page. “Seeing businesses operate in one of the most resource-constrained environments in the world fundamentally shifted how I think about impact,” says Nate Occilien-Similien 26Ox. “Entrepreneurship there wasn’t about growth for its own sake, it was about survival, usefulness, and meeting immediate needs.” These meetings deepened students’ understanding of entrepreneurship and venture capital, allowing them to observe not just what companies were doing but also why.

Bropleh recognized that students were genuinely beginning to understand business and Kenya's culture when they began asking, 'How did they figure out this approach?' This realization came early during the trip. He says, “The conversation moved from comparison to genuine curiosity and respect. Students began to recognize that business acumen, market analysis, and strategic thinking look the same everywhere, but execution must be contextually intelligent.” At that moment, students were no longer observing Kenya through assumptions; they were engaging with its ecosystem with respect, curiosity, and contextual intelligence.

As the week concluded, the lessons students took home extended far beyond just a single company visit or market event insight. For Bropleh, the real measure of the experience did not lie in what students could explain, but in how they had learned. He hoped they would remember “the feeling of having their assumptions challenged not by a lecture or a textbook, but by lived reality”. Above all, he wanted students to leave with a deeper understanding that meaningful learning arises from being present and listening deeply. “What I ultimately hope students carry forward is a fundamentally different way of engaging with the world,” Says Bropleh

That perspective was reflected in students' reflections on the experience. Krishnan 28Ox shared, “The trip to Kenya truly made me a better person and a more confident individual in corporate environments. I also see myself as a much more globally aware person than I was before.” Raina Varma 26Ox noted that this experience has altered her approach to problem-solving, leadership, and innovation, making her more aware of the context, focused on impact, and adaptable.

Rather than viewing solutions as transferable across borders, she pointed out the importance of building alongside communities, listening to those most affected, and allowing innovation to emerge from constraint rather than abundance. 

For Bridgette Gunnels, these thoughts established the deeper purpose of this trip. “More than anything,” Gunnels noted, “I want them to remember that meaningful learning happens when we are willing to be uncomfortable, to listen deeply, and to engage with the world as it is, not as we assume it to be.” This experience was never intended to be just a trip, but rather one that would continue to shape how students think about leadership, impact, and their place in a global community long after returning to Oxford.

In that sense, the SideHustle Global trip to Kenya wasn't only about where students traveled, but how they learned by seeing rather than assuming, listening rather than prescribing, and engaging with curiosity rather than certainty.