Name
Longinus
Member since
September 2017
On-time repayments
81 installments • 42%
My name is Longinus Nyongesa Masinde from Kenya, Bungoma County, Kantuyi constituency. I was born on 9th June 1992. I started schooling in the year 1997 in a primary school that was 2kms away from our home, it was never easy as we used to cover this distance daily while surviving on a one meal Everyday. Life continued to be tough throughout My primary education. On 12th November 2005 I sat for my Kenya certificate of primary education (Kcpe), I passed well to join secondary school but early 2006 my father passed on forcing me to repeat Primary (Std 8) and thereafter things worsened as dad was our breadwinner, I deed my Kcpe again 2006 and joined Secondary in the year 2007 though life was hard as most of my time in secondary school i spent on the road looking for school fees, by the grace of God i was able to complete my secondary education in the year 2010 though with a urge fee balance. At this point my focus was now to make ends meet come rain come sunshine, I moved away from our home to a place where I could see my dreams come true ( current place where I stay) there it was hard to adopt to the new environment as I was just fresh from high school, according to the market research I carried on that market I notice that they totally lacked a place where school going children could acquire school I teams, I decided to set up a small bookshop though what I had in my pocket was only 40 us dollars which I had been saving and that was just only enough to pay a rent of one month, despite the fact that I lacked a starting capital I did not give up and therefore I had just to pay for the shop as I new I had to secure that shop first because of its location, because of many challenges I ended up being exploited by the women around so as to be able to get something to pay the rent, at one point i started eve selling mandazi and teaching a near by kindergarten, I continued to fight with life hard enough and remained focused. Luckily enough through hard work and commitment in my business by the year 2013 May i was able to raise something to clear my school fees to pick my certificates there immediately i applied for a chance from Kenyatta University to pursue Bachelor of Arts, through bursaries i have managed to complete my training and because of high population and lack of Jobs i decided to go back to my business as i believe this is where lies.
I deal with bookshop which mostly sale stationeries and also offers some of computer services which includes typesetting and photocopying. These goods and services are of essential to pupils and students hence they are highly on demand. I decided to run such businesses after market research where I noticed that there were so many schools around the region but there was no bookshop to serve the community around there I decided to put up a bookshop to help and shorten the distance whereby members used to cover long distance before acquiring the same, there were products that were highly on demand after market research. My daily cost is at USD 100 dollars per month and revenue is at USD 60 per year. I usually make a profit of USD 140 since demand is high but low stock. Out of this 60% usually goes on food, rent and other basic needs, 20% on school fees and the remained on improving business.
I will use this loan to buy text books for the new curriculum that has just been introduced in Kenya since the books are on high demand. The text books are for pre-primary 1 and 2 and Grade 1 and 2, which includes mathematical activities, Religious activities, Hygiene and Nutrition activities, Environmental activities, Language activities and movement and I creative activities. These will add up to my income and improve my living standards since the books are sold at USD 295, 275, 285, 300, 295 and USD 280 respectively at a 30% discount therefore making a profit of around 0.8 dollars per book. I expect to be selling more than ten copies per day therefore making around 8 us dollars per day more on 12 dollars that I have been earning from the business. This wil help me improve my business by increasing the stock for the betterment of my life and also pay the loan back without straining. The Thanks lenders and I appeal that you support me.
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Project Type
Classic Loan
Disbursed amount
$147.00
Date disbursed
Mar 8, 2018
Repayment status
On Time
Projected term
7 weeks
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