Put diaspora remittances to good use

Former American Boxing champion Leon Spinks once said, “Opportunity knocks only once. You never know if you’ll get another opportunity.”

Opportunity is knocking from the Diaspora but it may not last into the second generation of the Kenyan diaspora.

For the first time, recent World Bank shows that Diaspora remittances exceeded Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into low and middle-income countries.

These countries received $462 billion between 2013 and 2018 compared to FDI of $344 billion received over similar period ending 2013.

East Africans abroad sent home $17.38 billion within a five-year period between 2013 and 2018. Kenya topped its neighbours with $10.74 billion, more money than the $7.2 billion that we owe to China.

This kind of