African Informal Sector Inventors: Inventing Outside their Disciplies

Abstract

The study uses Nderitu a Kenyan airplane inventor who attempted to invent an airplane as an example of a typical Informal sector inventors, who invent in high scarcity environments, with limited or no invention theory and outside their disciplines. Finding out how informal inventors invent is important because it can help improve the way they invent which can help a developing country as it would improve technology innovation that would lead to more commercialization of inventions and economic growth. The paper surveys how Nderitu went about inventing, how interacting organizations reacted and how this can be related to invention theory. Informal sector technology inventors are part of global maker movement. This study argues for linking of informal sector maker inventors with invention and innovation theories. A literature review of Nderitu inventing process and information available about how organizations responsible for supporting invention in innovation ecosystem reacted was carried out.

Key Words: design thinking, informal sector, invention theory, maker movement