Uchumi Supermarkets was founded in 1975 as a government-supported retail chain designed to bring modern shopping to ordinary Kenyans. For decades it was a symbol of Kenyan retail ambition. By 2006 it had collapsed under mismanagement and debt, closing all its stores.
In 2007 it was revived. Then it struggled again. The Uchumi story is the story of many Kenyan state enterprises: well-intentioned beginnings, political interference, mismanagement and the tension between public ownership and commercial viability.
It is also the story of a generation of Kenyans for whom Uchumi represented aspiration.