Entrepreneur
Name
Symon
Member since
December 2014
On-time repayments
205 installments • 79%
About Me
My name is Symon Sange and I was born in Voi which is a town between Nairobi and Mombasa. Voi is an area where residents practise farming and keeping cattle. I was born in a family of seven and I am the first born. As the first born, I had a huge responsibility of taking care of my younger siblings and this made me acquire a culture of hard work early in life. My parents are of what would be described as poor since their income is very low.
In spite of the hardship, and with lots of sacrifices, my parents took me to school up to secondary school with the hope that I would get a good job and support them in their effort to bring up the large family. Unfortunately, it was hard to get a job without any vocational training. My father sold his prized bull to raise money for me to go to Mombasa and find something to do so as to start earning.
Armed with the money from my dad, I came to Mombasa for the first time and got a job as a waiter in a small restaurant. I worked there for four months and then decided to quit to start my own business. I decided to venture into juice extraction business where I bought a few equipment to get me started. A friend of mine agreed to share his premises with me since I could not afford a place of my own.
My Business
I deal with extraction of juices from many seasonal fruits that grow around this region. The most popular fruit juices are mango, orange, avocado and a cocktail of all that. I get the fruits from the market or from farmers and then process them using basic equipment into sweet juice which I sell in re-usable glasses. I have a small freezer for cooling the juice due to high tropical temperatures around here.
The business has grown over the years in spite of many hurdles and I make a profit of about $300 which is quite okay. This is the money that I use to support my family and to send back home to my extended family.
My greatest and immediate problem right now is lack of my own place. I share (as seen on the profile photo) with my friend and he is in a totally different field where he does TV and radio repair. My desire is to have my own premises where I can prepare the juice in a hygienic environment. This is a dream I have harbored for many years but there are many competing needs for the money that I make.
Loan Proposal
My six year old daughter is now joining primary school. Her budget is USD 30 for school kit, USD 40 for books, USD 25 for transport to school and USD 55 for tuition fee for first term. The rest of the money will go into Zidisha's loan fund.
This will be a good start of this long journey for her and I look forward to you supporting me as you have done in the past.
Thank you.
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Loan Info
Project Type
Classic Loan
Disbursed amount
$228.00
Date disbursed
Jan 21, 2016
Repayment status
On Time
Projected term
14 months
Lenders
Uruguay
Netherlands
United States
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