Add mushroom growing house to my farm

Catherine

Nairobi, Kenya

100% repaid

Entrepreneur

Name

Catherine

Member since

January 2015

On-time repayments

165 installments  •  39%

About Me

I am a very hard working and focused person, I grew up in a small neighborhood and is the first of four siblings. I had a problematic education as many times I would be sent home from school because of school fee but this never deterred me from getting good grades and making the best of time to study alone.
I have always been self motivated which has helped me to overcome the problems I had to face at a young age and achieve the goals I wanted in life. At a tender age I learnt to make some extra income during the holidays which I would use as part of my pocket money and also add onto my school shopping when I was in high school.
This self driven attitude is what has led me to be able to start up my business and be able to run it little by little and have it grow day by day.
I managed to save up some bit of money and acquire a piece of land which I have been doing farming on but on small scale.
Kenya is a very unique country and there lies opportunity everywhere so long as you can be able to identify your strengths. The people are warm and friendly and always ready to embrace new ideas and also there is a diverse market for any kind of product or service that you can venture into.
I currently have no children but soon expecting in a few months and thus I am working hard to secure their future.
The money I make in terms of profits I invest in a womens group which we are able to borrow some money from but in small amounts. Also some of it I use to venture into new farming equipment which prove to be efficient in my business and also I try and make my home comfortable so that I can have a place to rest after a hard days work.
I plan to be able to expand my business and even get a bigger piece of land eventually and at some point be able to own my own home so that I can have a secure future but this is a step by step action that I am taking to avoid making any major mistakes.

My Business

I am in Agri-business and I have a small farm where I mainly cultivate vegetables like tomatoes and green peppers. I also ventured into mushroom farming just to try and see how well it would do and the results were very fulfilling.
I decided to venture into Mushroom farming because the demand market has been growing steadily considering that now people are looking into healthy living and nutrition and they provide very essential nutrition value of iron and protein. The other reason is because it doesn’t require such a large tract of land to cultivate them thus I can be able to do it even in a single room and grow as much over short periods of time and be able to make great profits.
The mushroom farming cost involves purchasing of the sawdust which is a medium of growth for the mushrooms and also for the spawns [seeds]. Also they require maximum sanitation thus bleach is required to ensure there is no contamination which is an added cost though not as expensive.
The revenue comes from sale of the tomatoes and bell peppers which is seasonal since they are seasonal crops and the sale of the mushrooms which can be cultivated throughout the year.
I also make extra incomes through other consultancy jobs when I am not on the farm which I can comfortably work from home thus I try and make ends meet by ensuring that I have a constant supply of income when the crops are not yet mature. With the last loan I was able to start and run a chicken rearing business which has been doing well and I have managed to pay my loan with and pay part of my school fee as I am currently doing an undergraduate degree which I am on my second year. Also I use the profits to invest in the women’s group that I am in where I can borrow emergency loans in small amounts to cater for some of my needs when I run short of money I also save some little for rainy days and future inputs of the farm.

Loan Proposal

When I get the loan I will be able to put up a mushroom growing house which would cost me about 47$ since most of the materials required to do this can be found locally and are not so expensive and the cost also includes the labor that will be involved in the preparation which is just about a day. Also for the growing medium I will require sawdust which will cost me another 12$ which I will then stuff into plastic bags and also the spawn will cost me about 60$.
Although I will still have a deficit of about 50$ for labor and cost for irrigation since water is a very expensive commodity in our country, I am happy that through this small loan I will be able to venture into a more productive and better profit making business which does not take a longer duration as the tomatoes I have been farming and eventually I can be able to expand once I make returns on the initial investment as the expected profits will be not less than 100% initial cost on investment and within 30 days of spawning. This will also be good as I will be able to hire people from within my community to assist with the labor and also the harvesting of the Mushrooms. I will also be able to better my livelihood and be able to manage to save a little money for future use and also pay off my debt of the loan that I have and part of my school fee as I am still studying.
I request kindly to be supported because I cannot be able to single handedly meet the full financial requirements of the farm due to the lack of enough capital and increased cost of farming inputs and paying my worker which is attributed to the high standard of living in my country especially in Rongai where I will be having my Mushroom farm.

Feedback

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Loan Info

Project Type

Classic Loan

Disbursed amount

$100.00

Date disbursed

Jan 16, 2015

Repayment status

On Time

Projected term

2 months

Lenders

TK

Tim Koppel

WOLLONGONG, Australia

T

tkromm

Agia Paraskevi, Greece

G

GreenMoney

Lahr, Germany

G

GoughGirl

Washington, Dc, United States

SE

Sven E

Mannheim, Germany

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