Elroi hope centre

Entrepreneur

About Me

MY PROFILE
I am Susan Owuor Njuguna, a Kenyan citizen who has human and environmental interest at heart. I am humbled and a proud citizen; humble in the sense that I am running a children’s home(Elroi Hope Centre) at Kayole estate in Nairobi Kenya and proud in the sense that I am an environmental conservatist through briquettes(small blocks made from flammable organic matter to be used as fuel with the purpose of starting and maintain fire) making in Kayole estate(Nairobi county) and Kiambu county.
Elroi Hope Centre was started back in the year 2007 with the sole purpose of rescuing mentoring, supporting and empowering neglected children, orphans, youth and widows who are in one way or another affected by and/or infected with HIV/AIDS and who are struck by abject poverty.
Being brought up in a family that is entrepreneurship oriented I have come to appreciate the role of entrepreneurship by coming up with briquette making which is part of self employment and falls under the umbrella of millennium development goals of which poverty reduction and alleviation is part of.
Furthermore, being a resident of Kayole where air, water and land pollution is real environmental menace and health hazard, I have engaged the gear of being eco-friendly by application of four(4) of the r-word;reduction,recycling,re-using and removing wastes from the environment emanating from agricultural, industrial and municipal wastes in briquette making process who end product among other advantages include being smokeless, high heat value, burning for 2-4hours,sparkling when burning, burning with moderate flames,odourless,minimal dust, burning with constant heat, economical-cheap price, helping in environmental conservation, environmental friendly, indoor and outdoor usage and good for poultry farming.
Though I pursued automotive engineering at college have turned to briquette making after undergoing extensive and intensive learning of briquette making in classes, seminars and through deep consultations with other promising entrepreneurs who have are in the briquette making field.briqutte making ha s made me self-independent by providing for myself and those who are dependent on me the basic needs-this has successfully seen me stable bread winner the demise of my husband back in 2011.
My venture to briquette making was inspired by the interest for environmental conservation, self- employment and the increasing demand for environmental friendly products. Moreover, running of Elroi Hope Centre was a short in the arm for the venture due to limited resources from the donor community and well wishers. With the go ahead of centre’s board of directors, I came up with this income generating activity and capacity building for community members which have gone along way of sustaining its programme implementation.
The briquettes making and capacity building programme is an outstation training programme which builds capacity of the youth and women targeting job and wealth creation with an aim of helping achieve the millennium development goals through poverty alleviation and reduction of infant mortality rate- a goal which is possible when vulnerable and expectant women who rely on capacity building and empowerment from the briquette making activity get cash to support both their antenatal and postnatal health services from competent health facilities
The earnings generated by the briquette making is used to support Elroi Hope Centre’s members through school fees payment, health services, food and other varied societal needs and challenges the centre seeks to address and briquette making training sessions.

My Business

BRIQUETTE MAKING BUSINESS
Briquette making is a promising business not only is it environmental friendly but also it is a source of incoming to those who engage in it. The business is my source of income aside from urban farming and it is quite promising and is headed to rapid growth due to the environmental conscience activities which are being encouraged.
Briquette making as business as business involves the production, packaging, transporting and selling of equipments (jikos and briquette machines) and products (briquattes-smalling blocks made from flammable organic matter to used as fuel with the purpose to start and maintain fire).in addition to providing the above products, I also offer training of briquettes` making and carbonization and after training I do organize for mentorship programme.
The products from business making are in really high demand; the briquette making machines are assets which starts and maintains the briquette making business as many of my customers find it an attractive business worth venturing in to earn income while the jikos are energy savers and easily affordable and ideal replacement of hearth fires which require a lot of attention and difficult to deal with as compared to briquettes. The below mentioned reasons among others makes briquette business more profitable and more attractive to the fuel consumption market which prefer it to other competitors who offer kerosene( which is becoming unaffordable consumers especially those of low income) and charcoal(which is being discouraged due to unscrupulous cutting down of trees; a threat to the environment):
a) The briquettes are smokeless and odourless making them environmentally and health friendly
b) The briquettes have high heat value making it an ideal for preparing foods that require high level of heat energy. Moreover they burn while sparkling with moderate flames for 2-4 hours.
c) Minimal dust is produced from their burning making them less pollutant and saves the energy and time spent while clearing dust from combustion
d) The briquettes are both suitable for indoor and outdoor combustion
e) The business helps in forest conservation and is environmentally friendly.
Furthermore, the packaging of my brackets, distribution channels, the place that I operate the business and my usage of my income (assisting the less fortunate in the society and my well worked out budget for the business) from the briquettes makes the business profitable and more proffered than that of competitors.
As any other business the briquette making business comes with its equal share of risks which threatens the operation of the business. Although the business conserves the environment and its end product are health friendly, the making process of the briquettes poses health threats; the dust which is used to make the briquettes cause lung infections to those who are involved in their making. Eyes sores are also associated with the process. Moreover, the business is associated with skin cancer which is dreaded by all. All this diseases keeps human labour at arm’s length as none want to be associated with the infections making sourcing of labour a challenge which threatens perpetual running of the business. Pilferage from the labour force is a risk associated with the business. Those in involved in the making process may pilfer some of the briquettes home exposing the business to risk of operating at a lose or low profit margins.
However, I have put in place risk management plans to address the above challenges to the letter. All those who are involved in the briquetted making process are provided with overalls, gloves,masks and dust glasses to shield them from the above mentioned health threats. Working in a closed compound and monitoring good that are carried in and out the compound where the briquettes making is undertaken. This prevents the operation risks caused by pilferage.
FINANCIAL OPERATION OF THE BUSINESS (IN KSH ).
Income
Briquettes’ sales =18,000
Total=18,000
Cost
i. Electricity=1,500
ii. Labour= 6,000
iii. Transport=2,000
Total=9,500

Net profit
Sales=18,000 less
Cost=9,500
Total=8,500

Loan Proposal

BRIQUETTE MAKING BUSINESS
Briquette making is a promising business not only is it environmental friendly but also it is a source of incoming to those who engage in it. The business is my source of income aside from urban farming and it is quite promising and is headed to rapid growth due to the environmental conscience activities which are being encouraged.
Briquette making as business as business involves the production, packaging, transporting and selling of equipments (jikos and briquette machines) and products (briquattes-smalling blocks made from flammable organic matter to used as fuel with the purpose to start and maintain fire).in addition to providing the above products, I also offer training of briquettes` making and carbonization and after training I do organize for mentorship programme.
The products from business making are in really high demand; the briquette making machines are assets which starts and maintains the briquette making business as many of my customers find it an attractive business worth venturing in to earn income while the jikos are energy savers and easily affordable and ideal replacement of hearth fires which require a lot of attention and difficult to deal with as compared to briquettes. The below mentioned reasons among others makes briquette business more profitable and more attractive to the fuel consumption market which prefer it to other competitors who offer kerosene( which is becoming unaffordable consumers especially those of low income) and charcoal(which is being discouraged due to unscrupulous cutting down of trees; a threat to the environment):
a) The briquettes are smokeless and odourless making them environmentally and health friendly
b) The briquettes have high heat value making it an ideal for preparing foods that require high level of heat energy. Moreover they burn while sparkling with moderate flames for 2-4 hours.
c) Minimal dust is produced from their burning making them less pollutant and saves the energy and time spent while clearing dust from combustion
d) The briquettes are both suitable for indoor and outdoor combustion
e) The business helps in forest conservation and is environmentally friendly.
Furthermore, the packaging of my brackets, distribution channels, the place that I operate the business and my usage of my income (assisting the less fortunate in the society and my well worked out budget for the business) from the briquettes makes the business profitable and more proffered than that of competitors.
As any other business the briquette making business comes with its equal share of risks which threatens the operation of the business. Although the business conserves the environment and its end product are health friendly, the making process of the briquettes poses health threats; the dust which is used to make the briquettes cause lung infections to those who are involved in their making. Eyes sores are also associated with the process. Moreover, the business is associated with skin cancer which is dreaded by all. All this diseases keeps human labour at arm’s length as none want to be associated with the infections making sourcing of labour a challenge which threatens perpetual running of the business. Pilferage from the labour force is a risk associated with the business. Those in involved in the making process may pilfer some of the briquettes home exposing the business to risk of operating at a lose or low profit margins.
However, I have put in place risk management plans to address the above challenges to the letter. All those who are involved in the briquetted making process are provided with overalls, gloves,masks and dust glasses to shield them from the above mentioned health threats. Working in a closed compound and monitoring good that are carried in and out the compound where the briquettes making is undertaken. This prevents the operation risks caused by pilferage.
FINANCIAL OPERATION OF THE BUSINESS (IN KSH ).
Income
Briquettes’ sales =18,000

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