Entrepreneur

About Me

Thank you lenders for giving me an opportunity to join zidisha. I am married with three children two boys and a girl. I am a graduate of Egerton University with a degree in agricultural economics. When I finished my tertiary education from Egerton University, jobs were hard to come by and so I got some support from my family members to start a small milk shop in Kambi Somali estate within Nakuru town where I still reside. Back then to access credit in any local bank was very difficult as they required collateral and savings for some time which I didn't have. In the year 2000 I realized that people used to go for long distances in search of fresh milk and make long ques at milk selling points. Packed milk was very expensive and most often used to get spoilt. I took this challenge as a business opportunity and started a small milk shop. I used to wake up at 3.00 am in the morning to go and get fresh milk from the nearby farms and come back and open early in so that customers would come to buy milk for breakfast. By then I used to open in the morning and evening only. Things started looking up and the business picked as I was not only sourcing for fresh milk but other fresh farm produce. As business progressed, I managed to convince various suppliers to deliver milk and other fresh farm produce to my kiosk instead of me going to their farms. This helped me to save a lot of time and nurture my business. My suppliers had trust in me because I used to pay them on delivery and on their part they would supply me with the best farm produce. Since then I have managed to grow my business from a milk shop to a small kiosk and now to a shop whereby I also sell groceries and basic household items. With my small earnings am able to cater for my family basic needs and also take my children to school. My wife sometimes helps me at the shop especially when I go for other food products and household items from the wholesale market in Nakuru town. That way, the business does not suffer losses because it remains open daily and am able to forego the cost of hiring someone to run it while I attend the logistics part of it. Though I cannot rule out external interferance like the post election violence in year 2007/2008 when businesses suffered many lossses, I remain very optimistic that the business will continue to expand so long as I continue to satisfy my customers giving them enough reasons to come back to my shop. I also put a lot of emphasis on customers service and care as this helps me in understanding their tastes and preferences. I am therefore convinced that this loan will be a milestone and will go a long way in helping me improve my business and my living standards.

My Business

Thank you lenders for giving me this chance to join the Zidisha community for economical empowerment. My businesse entails a shop whereby I sell food products, household items and groceries. I reside in a residential urban area called Kambi Somali in Nakuru town where the residents are mostly low income earners. I realized that there is a high demand for milk and most people could not afford packed milk as it was expensive and there was always the risk of it getting spoilt. I took this challenge as a business opportunity and immediately started looking for funds to start sourcing for fresh milk from the nearby farms. Nakuru is an agricultural town and there is a lot of milk produced from the nearby farms though most of the farmers sell their milk to milk processing companies. It was hard though to convince farmers to sell their milk at their farm gate as they doubted my long term consistency and commitment. I was able to convince my first farmer and bit by bit he gained confidence in me and going on many more were able to give me a chance to buy their milk at their farm gate. My customers liked the fresh farm milk that I was selling to them and at a lower price. The demand increased and customers also asked for other fresh farm produce like onions, tomatos, cabbages, potatoes, bananas, peas, beans etc. My shop became a one-stop shop whereby customers could buy all food products. Customers prefer to buy from my shop because of quality products and also I am able to package products in affordable quantities my business. I have also made arrangements with many customers to be purchasing items through credit and then they pay either weekly, after a fortnight or on monthly basis. This greatly enhanced my business and hence I saw the need to expand my businesses and sell other household items like maize flour, soap, cooking fat, kerosene, rice, sugar, washing basins, buckets etc. My monthly turnover is about thirty thousand, less fifteen thousand expenses and so my net income is about fifteen thousand shilling monthly. The only problems we face are political interferance like we faced during the year 2007/2008 post election violence. The loan will greatly help me in sourcing varieties of household items for my customers hence more business.

Loan Proposal

I will use the loan to add more stock in my shop i.e. household items like maize flour, wheat flour, rice, beans, salt, sugar and cereals. This way my sales volume will go up and hence more returns. I will also focus on customer service, conservation/retention and feedback so that I am able improve and make sure they are satisfied with my products. I am determined to be very aggressive in my business inorder to pay back on time and continue borrowing in future.

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