Women, Indigenous Beer and Brewing for the Market: A Cottage ‘Industry’ in Colonial Nairobi: 1920 - 1939

Existing studies on women entrepreneurship in colonial Nairobi largely focused on women in prostitution, hawking and itinerant trade. Women in indigenous beer enterprise remained unstudied. This leaves a dearth in scholarship which this study sought to address. The objective of the study was to examine the development of entrepreneurial brewing of indigenous beer in Nairobi City from 1920 to 1939. The study discussed the factors that led to the rise of women’s indigenous beer enterprise and the reasons for its resilience in colonial Nairobi despite a raft of measures instituted by the colonial government to suppress it. It focused on continuities and changes that took place in indigenous beer production, marketing and consumption following the commoditization of traditional beer in Nairobi city in the early colonial period. The study employed a qualitative design based on a historical approach. Data was obtained from both primary and secondary sources. Collected data was verified for authenticity, consistency and reliability. It was then analyzed qualitatively and presented in line with the objective of the study. The study revealed that indigenous beer emerged as a factor in commercial life in African locations in Nairobi and was produced and sold by women. Measures adopted by the colonial government to control indigenous beer entrepreneurial activity of women largely failed to curtail it. This is because it provided inexpensive alcohol for the urban low-income earner, particularly during the Depression years. New techniques and tools replaced the traditional brewing tools and mechanisms. The traditional brewing tools and mechanisms were replaced by new techniques and tools. The study is significant because it provides important data on women’s domination of specific income-earning niches in the urban milieu in colonial Kenya.