Construction of shelter for potato crisps production busines

Leah

Ngong Town, Kenya

Funds disbursed

$0 to go

100% funded of $45 goal

0

days left

Entrepreneur

Name

Leah

Member since

March 2014

On-time repayments

34 installments  •  24%

About Me

My name is Leah Mugo, I am married with 2 kids. I have gone through high school and then to College to do Secretarial and Office Management courses. I worked for a couple of years but my contract came to an end in December 2012 and I have not been able to secure another job since then. My husband has been unemployed for the last 5 years too. I have two beautiful girls aged 7 and 4 years. They are in school and they are brilliant, and I want to give them the best education so that they can become successful people in the society when they grow up and be able to help others in return. My first born want to be a Doctor and the last born want to be an actress!!! They are however both asthmatic and need constatn medical care which really eats into our pockets....... We have been trying our hands at different small businesses most of which dont take off because of lack of adequate capital and operational costs. I therefore need your assitance in starting off my business to be able to take care of our young family and educate our kids. My hobbies are polishing my nails and my girls too!, travelling(which i dont ge to do much because of lack of enough money!) and cooking.

My Business

I have been trying small scale farming and have come to enjoy and like growing of potatoes, as they are becoming the second staple food in Kenya next to maize. There is always demand for potatoes in the markets, institutions, hotels, schools and homesteads. However when it comes to selling the potatoes its usually a challenge because the middlemen swindle the farmers by over packing and buying at very low prices. I have leased one acre of land in a place called Kinangop, and from time to time I can harvest 25- 31 bags of potatoes which i sell for between kshs 1800 - 3000 depending with the season. However for the last couple of months I have not been able to farm due to lack of capital to plant them.
Revenue is normally - 25 bags x 1800 = 45,000
We live in our own house so we dont pay rent.
School fees per month is about 26,000
House expenses - food, medical, electricity , water etc is about 18,000.

I have been researching on better ways of earning more from potoatoes and I met another young man who introduced me into the business of making hand made potato crisps. I have enough space in our house /compund to enable me make the crisps from home. I have tried a few times to test the waters and people like the crisps and I know if I can be able to do large scale there is enough market for them because people will always want to eat!!! I however lack the capital to do so because whatever little money we get is to buy food daily for the family. Kindly assist me....

Loan Proposal

The rains are about to start here. I will build a good strong structure to shelter our cooking jiko and preparation area of the potato crisps as currently we do it outside our house in the open. I will buy timber-3,000, poles - 360, wiremesh -600, cement for the floor -1,800, nails - 250, hammer - 320, roofing iron sheets - 4,000 and a door - 600. Labour 2,000. Total cost of the structure is 12,930 Kes, approximately.
If it would be possible I would really appreciate if you helped me/loaned me the whole amount. I will pay it back in instalments. Thank you in advance

Feedback

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Loan Info

Project Type

Classic Loan

Disbursed amount

$45.00

Date disbursed

Oct 31, 2015

Repayment status

Late

Projected term

2 months

Lenders

O

Oxfall

Gothenburg, Sweden

BF

Bob Fitzjohn

Fontvielle, Monaco, Yemen

T

tontonca

United States

V

Vivek

Arlington, VA, United States

WE

Wendy Emlyn

Devon, United Kingdom

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  • Earnest    Jan 12, 2016

    I have been trying to contact Leah Mugo but all in vain. Today i have managed to one of the family members and told me that leah traveled out of the country in November 2015. I will continue to persue the same

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  • Earnest    Dec 10, 2015

    hi lenders,
    After conducting Leah today, she told me that she used alot of cash in reconstruction of her business and thats why she has not been able to repay her loan.
    Consequently, she has assured me to that she will start her repayment soon.

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  • Wendy Emlyn    Nov 21, 2015

    Hello Leah - are you in a position to start making payments yet?
    God bless you,
    Wendy

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  • Leah    Oct 28, 2015

    Thank you so much my dear Lenders.
    I will be able to build a structure/ room to enable continuous production of my potato crisps. The rains have already started so I do appreciate very much!

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  • Leah    Oct 21, 2015

    So far with the two past loans I have been able to buy a cooking jikowhich is economical and environmental friendly it uses saw dust and very little firewood. I have also purchased a potato peeler and sealer. I also managed to pay for the Kenya Bureau of Standards license. Now I want to expand and employ one person to assist in the marketing of the potato crisps. With the loan that you will give me I want to build a strong structure or room to shelter our production from the rains as they are about to start. I however hope you would reconsider and add my loan limit since the 50 usd is on the lower side compared to the construction that I want to do. I am thankful because with your help my children have not missed a day of school and am able to feed them well despite the high cost of living and also get them their medication whenever the need arises. Thank you my Zidisha Lenders!!

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  • Leah    Jul 6, 2015

    Thank you so much for Lending me the money, I received the 50 usd loan directly to mobile phone money account in Kenya shillings of course(ksh 4,827/).
    I have ordered for the sealing machine, I will post it as soon as possible.

    Thank you so much. This will definitely make my potato crisps packaging more professional!!
    You are amazing people!!!

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  • Leah    Jun 29, 2015

    Hello wonderful people who are so helpful and willing to lend me money so that I can expand my business!
    Thank you so much! You will enable me buy a sealing.machine for my potato crisps to make the packaging more professional and also buy more stock to expand my business a bit, hence more income to take better care of my family.

    Thank you so much!

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  • Leah    Jun 23, 2015

    I am grated to the Zidisha platform and most of all to the Lenders who loaned me money even though they didn't know me. The money helped me start off my home made potato crisps business thereby helping me provide for my family with the basic needs, food, clothing, medical care and paying their school fees.
    I am continuing with the business though at some point it was really difficult when the prices of the
    raw potatoes skyrocketed. They are now going back to the normal prices. My goal however is to be able to farm the potatoes myself.
    I am applying for another loan to enable me expand the business for more production.

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  • Leah    Mar 31, 2015

    At work......packaging

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  • Leah    Mar 31, 2015

    I always bought crisps from the Supermarkets.....never thought i would be able to produce them myself....!! I look forward to owning my own factory someday soon to be able to do large productions and sell the crisps nationwide....!

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  • Leah    Mar 31, 2015

    I also hope to be able to employ one or two people soon to help me in production and in selling

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  • Leah    Mar 31, 2015

    I am focusing on more production to be able to sell more and better the lives of my children

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  • Leah    Mar 31, 2015

    I am grateful to my Lenders, I managed to buy the new jiko and so far the business is doing well. I am able to make more crisps and sell them; this in turn is helping me keep my children in school and provide for them, and I am also able to buy their medication. Thank you so much!!

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  • Leah    Mar 3, 2015

    The business hasn't picked up yet but am working hard to produce and sell more.

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  • John    Feb 21, 2015

    Dear Lenders,

    I had spoken to Leah Mugo by phone last week. She had indicated that she had some personal problem that made her unable to pay up in good time and that she had contacted Zidisha and re-arranged how she is going to pay up .

    She promised me to pay up by this week. I will contact her next week to check on her progress.

    Thanks.

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  • John    Feb 18, 2015

    Hi Leah,
    I hope you are doing well in your business endevour. As you had promised when we spoke please make an initiative to pay up your installment. You can as well adjust your loan repayment plan to an amount that will be easy for you.

    Wish you well as you plan to update.

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  • Leah    Jan 13, 2015

    Thank you so much, I received the funds yesterday night and I was excited!!! I am going to purchase the Jiko(traditional cooker that uses saw dust and firewood) today and I will post the photos by tomorrow. I plan to re-start the potato crisps making by Thursday morning! Thank you once again; I can already see things will change for me and my family starting today.....!!!

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    • John    Jan 19, 2015

      Hi Leah,

      I wish you all the best with your business.

      Happy New year.

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