LETTER FROM NAIROBI

With a loud splash, another bucket of water burst into a thousand droplets on the car. The washer had just thoroughly scrubbed the rims, shampooed the bodywork and shaken off the floor mats. Now, here he was again, dipping his bucket into an open drain. He then moved the car to the "drying zone," where it is polished with all doors open.

Passing through this avenue in Kileleshwa, a residential district in central Nairobi, an untrained eye would only see loads of cars. This roadside car wash, typical of the thousands of small jobs that make up the Kenyan capital's informal sector, handles dozens of vehicles every day, from dawn to dusk.

The price of a standard "exterior-interior" detailing is 150 shillings (around €1.07). This rate attracts "98% of rideshare drivers," said Patrick Sabula, chairman of the cooperative, underlining his customers' obsession with cleanliness. Ian Thuo, an Uber driver for four years, comes here daily. The city's persistent dust constantly seeps into the car.

On rainy days, when the mud specks his gray sedan, he can come up to twice in a single day. "It's my mobile office," explained the elegant-looking almost 40-year-old in his black polo shirt and bright red pants. "Can you imagine going to work every day in a dirty office?" He thinks that carwash stations meet a strong demand in a connected metropolis where private transport apps have soared.

The increase in the number of car washes generally reflects the boom in the number of vehicles on the road. A symbol of social status, owning a private car has also become a common denominator for the middle class, which has been growing since the 2000s. For many, it allows them to avoid inefficient, crowded, noisy and unsafe public transport.

However, thanks to the abundant supply of used vehicles, low-income groups have also managed to buy cars, explained economist XN Iraki. As for the wealthier, they "like to differentiate themselves with bigger, more exotic cars." According to the University of Nairobi professor, these stations are also "a sign that the economy has reached a higher level, where people are specializing. Instead of washing my car (...), someone else will do it for me." He pointed out that neighboring countries such as Tanzania and Uganda, whose GDP is much lower, don't have as many car washes.

In this context, car washes cater to all tastes and budgets, from tiny stations where water is drawn from a murky river to flashy automatic arches. At the same time, the indispensable restaurant that accompanies every carwash has also diversified considerably: from the simple kibanda, a traditional tin-roofed restaurant, to chic places serving expensive menus of specialty coffees and bagels, where you can linger over lunch with friends.

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