Published in the Summer 2017 issue of Cornell Enterprise, the alumni magazine for Cornell University’s Johnson School of Business

When terrorists attacked the high-end Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, in September 2013, businessman Chris Getonga was just driving away. He had gone to the mall that Saturday morning to buy a present for his friend’s daughter on the way to her graduation party. As he did most mornings, he also stopped in to say hello to staff at his Mimosa Pharmacy. The chain of pharmacies was Getonga’s most valuable venture, and its flagship store was on Westgate’s ground floor.

As he steered into Nairobi traffic less than five minutes after leaving the mall, Getonga’s phone rang. His brother was calling to say gunshots had been reported inside Westgate, possibly connected to a bank robbery. But soon it was clear the attack was the work of terrorists.

Read the full piece.