I will buy more tea leaves from farmers

Raymond    Jan 21, 2023

I want to start paying since I have improved in my output and net revenues.
My siblings have finished schools since I was supporting most of them ..
Kindly accept my adjustment

Raymond    May 14, 2016

hallo
have been having challenges at home .Some of the tea plants I have been plucking to supplement what I buy were taken by our step mum.
Nonetheless am almost catching up. probably june mid I will have cleared outstanding balance. kindly bear with me.

Raymond    Jan 18, 2016

Happy new year all. ..am intending to make payments in due course ..to update my arrears till now 2016 .
new year with zero Portifolio at risk (par) .

Lewis    Nov 4, 2015

hi lenders i reminded raymond to make payments

Lewis    Jul 16, 2015

Hi lenders,
lets give raymond time and i know he will recover.
Regards
lewis njau
v.m

Lewis    May 10, 2015

hi lender raymond is facing some difficulties, i advised him to reschedule his loan, i hope he will do it

leewis njau
v.m

Raymond    Mar 27, 2015

hi lenders am doing quite good with the everything. life was a bit challenge after we experienced no rain till yester night where we expect normacy to return.
am now happy because soon all will be well.
thanks lenders ...
my seedlings are doing good will post soon pictures .

Lewis    Feb 18, 2015

hi lenders i tried to get in touch with raymond, but his phone was out of reach

lewis njau
(V.M)

Lewis    Dec 23, 2014

Hi lenders, cheruiyot is doing very well in his job, i talked to him and i reminded him of his arrears, he talked politely and i believe that he will remmit his dues
lewis njau
(V.M)

Raymond    Nov 21, 2014

the reason why am adjusting payment is because whenever i get my income from tea business and diversify businesses, i always chip in my hand to pay upkeep for my younger sister and brother who recently joined campus for there degree program mes.
I will always try to pay my loan as i always understand my responsibility.
Even when I have past dues I always pay in lumpsum so as to catch up with my timelines for payments on expected dates.Thankyou lenders for this avenue of adjusting payments.

Raymond    Nov 3, 2014

hi zidisha team. am quiet fine with my business despite few challenges here and there. Good enough challenges are born to happen and they always make us strong and keep going.
okey sometime back had one of my labourers who misused some money but good news I was able to recover some.thanks to our administration who assisted me to recover.
okey I have been able to expand my collection from 100 kilos aday to average of 150 and even sometime 180 kilos. these will greatly boost my income.
april am expecting also to sell over 15000 tea seedlings as the rains start and it will reap me something good.
thanks lenders and everyone in this platform.
am inviting kenyans here to visit my shamba to good vigoursly germinating tea seedlings.
and thanks also for am somewhere I did imagine at such time and sooner will also be somewhere up.
cheers. RAY

Raymond    Nov 3, 2014

hi lenders am doing good despite few challenges.

Lewis    Oct 17, 2014

hi lenders, raymond is doing well and i reminded him about his arrears, he will remmit it as soon as possible he promised,

Raymond    Jul 29, 2014

At this moment i wil love to reschedule my loan so as to pay 200 kes.this is the because anticipated interim bonus have delayed which i could use to pay lumpsum amount.sorry for inconvince caused.otherwise am very committed to paying my loan as they fall due.i believe i wil be able to pay such lumpsum amount at a future date if i may wish to.so far so good am happy with this platform of zidisha where in the event any misfortune happen u are relieved of stress from payment because you and anybody can reschedule.thanks for such thoughts

DavidHenning    Jul 29, 2014

Dear all,

I met Raymond in Litein, a small city 40 minutes’ drive south of Kericho (the city of tea). He took me to his sisters home, a small house not far from the centre. His sister was away and so she had asked Raymond to take care of the house while she was gone. His own farm is another hour’s drive away and so he figured it would be easier to just meet up here. Over a cup off his very own tea, Raymond tells me about his life.

Currently, Raymond is working as a middleman between the tea farmers and the factories. Tea farmers often encounter difficulties that require instant cash to be resolved. However, the factories only pay out the money at the end of each month, leaving a loophole that can easily be exploited by a patient entrepreneur. Raymond buys tea from the farmers for 20 Ksh per Kg, and sells them to the factory for 14 Ksh per Kg. “What? But that would give you a loss!” I interrupt him. “Yes, that is true” he replies. He goes on to explain that the factories pay out an interim bonus for each Kg of tea leaves they have received before the set date. The interim bonus usually comes around the end of July and would give Raymond an additional 4 Ksh per Kg he has sold to the factory. That would add up to 18 Ksh per Kilo, still not enough to cover his cost. However, the factory also pays an end of year bonus of minimum 25 Ksh per Kg, often even more. “Aaaah, now it makes sense” I exclaim. Adding all of this together Raymond would at least get a profit of 23 Ksh (0.25 USD) per Kg of tea leaves bought after one year. It requires a lot of patience from his side, but in the end it pays off.

Because Raymond does not collect the tea leaves himself, he always hires someone to do it for him, the main difficulty he faces is misuse of money. The hired people are not always collecting the tea leaves effectively, or might even use the money for something else. Until now he has always managed to get the money back, but it takes time and is cumbersome.

Raymond ventured into this business late last year, after graduating from his IT studies. Being the middle man is not actually his main profession it is just something he does at the side to receive some extra money. He mainly works as a farmer planting tea, cabbages and tea seedlings. At the moment he has 18.000 tea seedlings, which he is waiting to sell. “Farming is so practical, it can give you employment whenever. Most of my friends are currently unemployed, complaining about no available white collar jobs. But I, I just think, whatever, I will work as a farmer and then if something becomes available I’ll think about it.” He tells me with a smile.

During his studies Raymond was randomly browsing through the internet and stumbled across Zidisha. A friend of his had already been using Zidisha and gave him some inside information on how the page works. Upon graduation he looked into it again, and decided to try it out. With his first 2 loans he bought tea leaves and sold them to the factory. In addition, he also employed one person to gather the tea leaves with his second loan. The third loan he used for his farm. With it he purchased 12 houses, each containing 1200 tea sleeves. He lets the tea sleeves grow and once they have grown up (takes approximately a year) he will sell them. 10.000 tea sleeves give him a profit of 50.000 Ksh, so from the tea sleeves purchased with the Zidisha loan he will get a profit of 72.000 Ksh (820 USD).

In the future he aims to live off what he studied, IT. He wants to build up his savings and use them to start his own IT Company. The company would do anything IT related, for example repairing computers, developing websites, provide counselling services etc. However, he recognises that it is a dream, which will take several years to fulfil. He gives himself at least 5 years before the dream might become reality, maybe even more.

After talking about his business we begin to chat about everything from my home country and how it is different to Kenya to his girlfriend and Kenyan gender roles. Towards the end, as I am about to leave, Raymond suddenly notes: “One of the greatest things about Zidisha is that it connects people. Look at us! If it wouldn’t be for Zidisha we would never have encountered each other, but here we are, talking along and enjoying ourselves.” I smile. That is so true.

David Henning
Client Relationship Manager, Kenya

• Raymond    Aug 2, 2014

  Dear all,
  Okey i had a privilege of being visited by David at my home town Litein a few kilometers from Kericho town.I must acknowledge that we discussed many things not only Zidisha but also about life globally ,within Kenya and outside Kenya.It was really a nice encounter .
  I got great knowledge and what I never about Zidisha I had a chance of getting to know.I also shared about my tea business and about my general life and what awaits me in the future.
  Am happy that David has captured everything we talked about and it shows that we ain"t dealing with just imaginations e.g that there could be a Raymond doing this and that but we are talking about serious young entrepreneurs who wants to grow to be great business men and women.
  In-case of any question about me or my business type it here or email me at [email protected] be happy to be engaged.
  Thank you all and thank you Zidisha team

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Raymond    Jul 14, 2014

i would love to reschedule my loan but am not seeing that icon for reschedule ,kindly assist.thanks

Raymond    Jul 8, 2014

halo all,am sorry for not having paid as earlier oblige .This was occassioned by delays in payments and upto now i have not been paid.i will be paying the amount due as soon as when i get my revenue and profits.I therefore wish to reschedule my loan once more and thanks zidisha team for such thought of rescheduling
thanks

Raymond    Jun 27, 2014

The reason i want this amount is because i want to clear my loan within time frame and also to get access to higher credit limit.This was necessitated by interim bonus of 2 kes per kilo to be paid to tea farmers as directed by president hon Uhuru of the republic of Kenya.They will be paid at the end of this month.Thank-you zidisha always grateful to you as a whole

Raymond    Mar 22, 2014

I would love to reschedule my loan to pay kshs 200 every week .This is because am investing all the money i was awarded and it wouldn't generate early returns which will make pay 969 as earlier indicated.Thanks if you will kindly consider my request.
When my investments yield returns i will definitely pay lump sum amount due and the remaining by such time as i have done always

Raymond    Mar 15, 2014

am very happy about the progress am making with zidisha loan ,in a couple of few days ahead i will be uploading tea nursery pictures that i have been able to raisethrough zidisha loan.regards ray