Entrepreneur
Name
Sammy
Member since
January 2014
On-time repayments
370 installments • 85%
About Me
My name is Sammy Mwatha, a born again Christian with a strong and fulfilling passion for serving Christ. I am now 55 years old and now a proud father of four (three boys and three girls). I come from the County of Murang’a in Central Kenya. Since I left the Civil Service in 2000, I have been a Secondary school teacher for some years in a number of schools in Central Kenya, Rift Valley, and Nairobi teaching Business Studies and Geography. I have been working with Non-Governmental Organizations since 2003 in diverse areas like Nairobi and the Coast region of Kenya. Until December 2013, I was working for a health NGO but the project ended in December 2013. After the last working tour in the Port City of Mombasa which ended in 2013, I am now moving back to my home town of Murang’a in Central Kenya.
I am a now a Pastor with the Gospel Assembly Church in Murang’a where I launched the local chapter in November 2018 as commissioned by Christ in Matthew 28. I also volunteer worker for an international online Bible-based ministry (Answers2Prayer) answering Bible-based questions from readers since 2008.
My Business
My association with Zidisha began almost 5 years ago when a friend introduced me to Zidisha. After joining, Zidisha facilitated my getting a good laptop to shore up my new venture of online freelance work. This greatly helped me because I could work conveniently from home without having to visit the Cyber Café at odd hours or borrowing a laptop from friends. I had more time for family and my other small scale business of running a motor bike taxi business, known in Kenya as Boda Boda.
The combined income from the Zidisha backed laptop and my boda boda helped to see my daughter through secondary school and she is now in a mid-level college studying automotive engineering. I successfully repaid the loan solely from the proceeds of these two ventures, thanks to Zidisha.
My second Zidisha loan helped me to acquire a brand new laptop to further boost my online work with was growing at a commendable job. I successfully repaid the full loan 2 amount solely from the proceeds coming from writing online on various freelancing websites.
With loan 3 from Zidisha, I had decided to reduce my reliance on the unreliable electricity supply from the sole provider of power, Kenya Power Company. The loan was used to install a solar panel to boost my now full time freelancing online work in my rented apartment. I must say that this venture greatly solidified my work and helped to firmly build an online reputation of reliability among my growing list of international and local clients.
My new working station in Mombasa City was fully powered by solar power panels. The boosted incomes were sufficient to successfully repay loan 3 from Zidisha without any major handicaps. The only drawback was that it was in a rented premise and the time had come to move back to Murang’a last year (I have now dismantled the panels but still have them).
With the 3rd loan, I also opted to pay $177.38 into the Zidisha Members Loan Fund in return for a higher starting credit limit and I am glad I did!
Loan Proposal
I am now a Full-Time Online Freelancer and Blogger and the future can only be described as bright and very promising. As 2019 enters the second half, I have decided to seek a more permanent solution to my power/electricity supply by adopting a double strategy. My new project under Loan 4 if successfully funded by Zidisha is meant o help me move a step further in terms of securing my electricity/power supply.
I am now moved into my own house and fortunately, it’s close to the national power grid. All I need is to pay the Utility Company the necessary payment and fees, do the house wiring and then connect my house to the national power supply. My home is in Murang’a County in Central Kenya. This will ensure my online work is never interrupted by solar power shortfalls. The Solar panel funded under Loan 3 will now form my backup source of power.
The balance after meeting the electricity connection cost will be used to acquire an Internet Router to boost my connectivity being in a rural area.
I am confident, from past experience that the boosted income from more reliable online freelancing will adequately cover the weekly loan payments for Loan 4.
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Loan Info
Project Type
Classic Loan
Disbursed amount
$325.00
Date disbursed
Jul 2, 2019
Repayment status
Late
Projected term
24 months
Other loans
Lenders
San Francisco, Netherlands
Mill Valley, California, United States
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