Moses Mwangi is a college educated gentlemen living in Ongata Rongai, Kenya. Moses earned his degree in networking and repair maintenance. He is quite skilled with computers and programming. Moses runs a poultry business raising chickens for resale. Moses started his business because he identified a consumer trend that is moving away from red meat.
Recently Moses met with our in country Client Relationship Manager Achintya Rai. Here is what Achintya said about their recent encounter:
Hello lenders,
My name is Achintya Rai and I am Zidisha’s current client relationship intern for Kenya. I recently met Moses Mwangi at his home and had the chance to see his poultry business and talk to him and his mother Esther Kimemia.
Moses went to college after finishing his schooling to do a diploma in networking and repair maintenance and is a skilled computer technician. He is an expert in repair and maintenance of computers and is also well versed with programming. Apart from looking after his poultry business, he also works as a part time technician in the Multimedia University nearby and also helps in the business of his friend and another Zidisha client Samuel Njoroge.
Moses used his Zidisha loan to buy one day old chicks. These were 5 days old when I visited him and were very cute to look at. I think there were about 70 of them. They had just started changing color from yellow and each had a small white spot.
The poultry business is mostly taken care of by Moses’ mother Esther who is one of the wittiest persons I have met in Kenya. She kept coming up with one-liners the whole time I was there. The first thing she did after shaking hands with me was chastising Moses for not offering me water. When I asked Moses how old he was, he turned to Esther who remarked- “how would I know?” When I asked Moses if he had any plans to get married, he said “soon” and Esther added “but not tomorrow!”
With the next loan they plan to buy rabbits. Esther told me that there are many breeds of rabbits available in the market but the ones she will buy will be the largest ones because she likes “big big things”.
Moses says that he’s a farmer at heart and will buy a shamba (farm) as soon as he can. His immediate plan is to start his own repair business, which he plans to begin within a few months. While walking back I asked him why doesn’t he start a small hardware training school. He could provide short-term training to other students, who would PAY HIM to work in his shop. This made him laugh and he said he’s seriously going to consider the idea.
I had a very interesting time with Moses and Esther and I wish them the best for their future (which I have no doubt will be great, because that’s how it always is for people with such positive outlooks to life)
Achintya
22nd March 2012
Nairobi, Kenya
