Additional inventory for my bookstore

Mary Wanjiru

Mombasa Island, Kenya

100% repaid

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How it Works

Entrepreneur

Name

Mary Wanjiru

Member since

February 2015

On-time repayments

82 installments • 66%

About Me

My name is Mary and I was born in Nyeri county of Kenya. I was born in a family of 4 and I am the second born. My parents are farmers and I grew up helping them with their farming duties.

I went to primary school where I covered eight years and then joined secondary school for a further four years. My parents considered this as enough education and they did not educate me beyond this level. I moved from home to Mombasa shortly after completing my secondary education and I came to live with a cousin.

It his here where I met my husband who is now the father of my one child. With his assistance, I opened a small business of selling wall charts and used text books in a local open air market and this is what I am still doing.

I have a dream of opening a big bookshop in future and turn it into a family business where my husband and child(ren) will join me to run the mega business.

My Business

I sell educational posters mostly for pre-school and lower primary classes. I also buy and sell old books. This is a new practice in this area where parent sell text books for their children who graduate to the next class. They then buy books for the next class so long as the books are in good condition. They save a lot of money since I sell them at half the price of new books.

I normally sell posters to parents who introduce education to their kids at an early age. I also sell them to schools where they use them as teaching aids for the learners. This business picks up during the beginning of school terms but on average I make a profit of about $250 per month.

I spend this money to run the house budget as well as putting some of it back to business.

Loan Proposal

As mentioned above, my business deals in selling of educational posters as well as second hand text books. I now intend to introduce new books in addition to the used ones that I am currently selling. This is due to demand for new books as some buyers prefer new books - this is the segment I want to capture in this new venture.

I will spend the money to buy the following items:
2 dozens story books for lower classes at a total cost of USD 30
1 dozen English dictionaries at a total cost of USD 40
1 dozen Swahili dictionaries at a total cost of USD 45
1 dozen atlases at a total cost of USD 40
Assorted educational posters at USD 20.

All these are fast moving items and I will be able to sell them fast and recover my money. Thank you.