Funding for my third year undergraduate
Catherine
Nairobi, Kenya
35% repaid
Entrepreneur
Name
Catherine
Member since
January 2015
On-time repayments
165 installments • 39%
About Me
I am a very hard working and focused person, I grew up in a small neighborhood and is the first of four siblings. I had a problematic education as many times I would be sent home from school because of school fee but this never deterred me from getting good grades and making the best of time to study alone.
I have always been self motivated which has helped me to overcome the problems I had to face at a young age and achieve the goals I wanted in life. At a tender age I learnt to make some extra income during the holidays which I would use as part of my pocket money and also add onto my school shopping when I was in high school.
This self driven attitude is what has led me to be able to start up my business and be able to run it little by little and have it grow day by day.
I managed to save up some bit of money and acquire a piece of land which I have been doing farming on but on small scale.
Kenya is a very unique country and there lies opportunity everywhere so long as you can be able to identify your strengths. The people are warm and friendly and always ready to embrace new ideas and also there is a diverse market for any kind of product or service that you can venture into.
I currently have no children but soon expecting in a few months and thus I am working hard to secure their future.
The money I make in terms of profits I invest in a womens group which we are able to borrow some money from but in small amounts. Also some of it I use to venture into new farming equipment which prove to be efficient in my business and also I try and make my home comfortable so that I can have a place to rest after a hard days work.
I plan to be able to expand my business and even get a bigger piece of land eventually and at some point be able to own my own home so that I can have a secure future but this is a step by step action that I am taking to avoid making any major mistakes.
My Business
I am in Agri-business and I have a small farm where I mainly cultivate vegetables like tomatoes and green peppers. I also ventured into mushroom farming just to try and see how well it would do and the results were very fulfilling.
I decided to venture into Mushroom farming because the demand market has been growing steadily considering that now people are looking into healthy living and nutrition and they provide very essential nutrition value of iron and protein. The other reason is because it doesn’t require such a large tract of land to cultivate them thus I can be able to do it even in a single room and grow as much over short periods of time and be able to make great profits.
The mushroom farming cost involves purchasing of the sawdust which is a medium of growth for the mushrooms and also for the spawns [seeds]. Also they require maximum sanitation thus bleach is required to ensure there is no contamination which is an added cost though not as expensive.
The revenue comes from sale of the tomatoes and bell peppers which is seasonal since they are seasonal crops and the sale of the mushrooms which can be cultivated throughout the year.
I also make extra incomes through other consultancy jobs when I am not on the farm which I can comfortably work from home thus I try and make ends meet by ensuring that I have a constant supply of income when the crops are not yet mature. With the last loan I was able to start and run a chicken rearing business which has been doing well and I have managed to pay my loan with and pay part of my school fee as I am currently doing an undergraduate degree which I am on my second year. Also I use the profits to invest in the women’s group that I am in where I can borrow emergency loans in small amounts to cater for some of my needs when I run short of money I also save some little for rainy days and future inputs of the farm.
Loan Proposal
When funded the loan will go into paying part of my school fee at The University of Nairobi that costs me $122 per unit including examinations per semester. I am currently on my third year 1st semester and I am doing 6 units thus this requires me to pay a total of $732 per semester.
The benefit of this education is that I will be able to manage and run my Agri-business on a more professional manner and be able to compete with the market effectively and in return be able to expand my business even further. With expansion will come requirement to hire more people thus I will be creating employment in my area of work and this will also mean economic improvement for the people that I employ leading to reduced poverty and unemployment by a small margin. I will also be contributing to increased government revenue as I will be paying more returns to the taxation authorities thus playing my part in building the countries economy.
I hope that Zidisha lending community will for a third time enable me to embark on this project as they did with the Mushroom and chicken farming and I promise to be committed as always so that I can repay on time as in the past and be able to even do greater things through their assistance. I am also requesting this because I cannot currently meet the cost single handedly.
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Loan Info
Project Type
Classic Loan
Disbursed amount
$330.00
Date disbursed
Oct 11, 2016
Repayment status
Late
Projected term
19 months
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