Open a fish processing depot

Jacinta

Nairobi, Kenya

2% repaid

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How it Works

Entrepreneur

Name

Jacinta

Member since

September 2015

On-time repayments

183 installments • 25%

About Me

My name is Jacinta Lango. I am 50 years old and I am a mother of five. I lost my job several years back which forced me to look for an alternative way to support my family. Through my children's encouragement l was able to keep my head high and went back to my village, there I was able to find a way to come up with my own business, and since the people there are always ready to help one of their own get the necessary networks they need to stand on their own two feet, I have managed to provide basic needs for my children. My prayer is that I eventually have the business grow at a larger scale so that I may help them achieve their dreams of becoming people who will make a difference in society.

My Business

My business deals with small scale supply and distribution of fish and fingerlings to small restaurants, among other food stuffs. Fish being white meat and having many recommended nutrients is always in high demand. I chose this business because it works to my favor since I grew up near Lake Victoria. This enabled me to use the already existing networks I had there and put them into use for my business. My typical costs include the payments for the transport, gutting and the actual buying of the fish. The total amount was about 10, 000 shillings but now has increased to 15000ksh. After that I package, weigh and deliver them at a profit and make about 20,500 in return. I was able to increase my stock because of the freezer and increased my profits after getting a large order for exporting omena thanks to the automatic weighing machine i procured as well with time, combining the first loan and my personal efforts as well. It was challenging but I eventually managed to do so.
I managed to find a cheaper fisherman to supply me so that I would increase my revenue and I have worked on a home fish gutting process with my children to help me reduce expenses. This way I will be able to gradually increase the size of my business and never be late for my children's tuition payments.

Loan Proposal

My business has been doing well, the biggest challenge however is sometimes the extreme weather changes but my market has been steady so far. I decided to also look for outside markets and local kiosks and so far they have been responding well. I used to gut my fish in the biggest market in nairobi known as gikomba but I realised that with big orders it becomes quite expensive to get certain services there. I did my research locally and realized that there was a great demand for fish gutters and handlers. If I get my loan, I plan on buying a permanent space/plot near the county market place, that I negotiated that also comes with a sizable steel containment unit that can serve as both a cooling area and a fish depot station. The market rates for the both total to about $1500 but with the negotiable rate I will pay approximately $1100. I will be able to save on costs in the long run, make profits as well as create employment by hiring and training people to gut and scale fish as well as packaging and overall maintenance of the workshop.