The Role of Startups in Disrupting Perfect Competition: Case Studies from Kenya

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@article{1709098,
      author = {Omari Peter Kebiro, Dr. Yasin Ghabon},
      title = {The Role of Startups in Disrupting Perfect Competition: Case Studies from Kenya},
      journal = {Iconic Research And Engineering Journals},
      year = {2025},
      volume = {8},
      number = {12},
      pages = {677-681},
      issn = {2456-8880},
      url = {https://www.irejournals.com/formatedpaper/1709098.pdf},
      abstract = {The study explores how startups affect traditional markets that are believed to function under perfect competition, with a special look at examples from Kenya. For a market to be perfect competition, there must be many buyers and sellers, all products must be of the same type, everyone has the same information and it should only take little to enter or exit the market. Any company that is creative, flexible and tech-savvy may be able to dispute these assumptions because they rarely fit the actual marketplace. By using digital platforms, mobile tech and different business models, Kenya now has a thriving startup market that has affected banking, transportation and agriculture. To find out about how they have adjusted pricing, altered competition and made their services different, the study looks at three particular startups: Twiga Foods in agriculture, Safeboda in motorbike taxis and M-Pesa in finance. That leads us to reconsider the usual aspects of perfect competition which state that companies are price takers and only supply and demand affect the market. Furthermore, the study looks at the problems that arise when trying to support new ideas and still ensure fair competition, exploring how these changes influence markets, laws and regulations. Even though startups make markets more efficient and accessible, their results show that they may become powerful, so it?s important to continue strict regulation. Apart from suggesting ways to ensure innovators and competitors coexist, this article shows how startups affect the organization of markets in emerging countries.},
      keywords = {Perfect Competition, M-Pesa, Safeboda, Twiga Foods, Startups.},
      month = {June},
  }