A white founder’s $1 million Nairobi food startup aims to fix a problem Kenyans say doesn’t exist

A white Nairobi-based startup founder is facing backlash in Kenya, in a drama that is highlighting longstanding concerns about who wields power in Africa’s tech scene.

Robin Reecht’s interview with Techcrunch could easily have gone down into the annals of obscurity, if it weren’t for some unfortunate comments about something Kenyans are deeply passionate about: local cuisine.

“After three days of coming into Kenya, I asked where I can get great food at a cheap price, and everybody tell me (sic) it’s impossible,” Reecht, who is French, told Techcrunch in a June 17 interview. “It’s impossible because either you go to the street and you eat street food, which is really cheap but with not-so-good quality, or you order on Uber Eats, Glovo or Jumia, where you get quality but you have to pay at least $10.”

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