Commercial photography

Entrepreneur

About Me

My name is Maurice Momanyi. I was born in Nyanza in Western Kenya where I was brought up. I then moved to Nairobi 16 years ago in search of greener pastures. Earlier, I had visited many other local urban centres in Kenya trying to earn a living after completing high school.

I trained in journalism through hard-earned savings, after which I came out as a writer and photographer. Currently I contribute to a local weekly where I get paid on commission basis.

I managed to buy a camera which I use to do my work. I combine news coverage with photography which enables me and my family earn our daily bread.

I am married with two children aged - both boys - aged 8 and 10 months.

My Business

My Business

My business deals with freelance writing and photography. I also take pictures during different social accasions at a small fee. I have done this work for the last 10 years and I am well known within my area of operation.


I attend press conferences and seek exclusive feature stories which I contribute to print media. I make an average net profit of $150 per month.

I, though, face a number of challenges the main one being lack of capital to expand the business. The equipment for this job are costly and getting credit locally is difficult.
As you may remember the first loan I got of KES 5,068 was fully repaid, though a membership fee of KES 1000 and a member's loan deposit of KES 3,000 was automatically deducted, leaving me with only KES 1,068, which couldn't do me much.

Now I'm intending to switch to video work after I entered into a contract with a local television station that is based in the coastal county of Mombasa where I'm expected to be corresponding from the capital Nairobi. This agreement requires me to acquire my own video camera for it to succeed.
The amount I have at hand (KES 95,000) cannot be enough to get one. I need KES 250,000 for the same. This means I have a deficit of KES 155,000, which I thought Zidisha could grant me.
I basically need USD 1000 (KES 135,000) to go for the 3CCD video camera to be able to embark on my work.

Loan Proposal

On securing the loan, I will add it to my little savings and use it to buy a new camera that will give me best results in the course of my work. This is because some clients find my pictures to be not of good quality enough for them to buy. So I hope the camera I will acquire will enable me produce photos of good quality and so appeal to my clients. In a week, I generate an average of $50 with my current camera and trust that the new one will make me earn more owing to the quality of pictures. My projection is that my weekly earning will double to at least $100 once I start using it. I also envisage that the more sales will enable me get my own portable picture printing machine which will reduce expenditure arising from hiring one or paying for studio services. I also spend in buying envelopes or nylon papers for wrapping, while eventually many pictures remain uncollected. This means that on acquisition of a better camera, I stand assured that majority, if not all pictures will be claimed by owners. In the long run if my business grows well, I intend to open my own photo studio where I will be purely printing for photographers around my locality at a fee.

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