Second-hand clothing sales

Entrepreneur

About Me

Our family is made up of my father, mother and seven children. Out of the seven children, only two are male. I am 4th among the 7 children. I was born in 1985. I am a single mother of one child. I happened to divorce with my husband in 2011 due to unbearable circumstances. My father has a shop at the near center that is operated by my mother. My father currently works in a milk dairy where residents of Kinyogori take their milk, which is then sold to milk companies. I completed school in 2003. I was studying at Kinyogori primary school and Kinyogori Secondary school. I started assisting my mother in selling at the shop. But in January 2006, I went to stay with my grandmother at a place called Ngarariga, still in Limuru. From there, I was able to learn tailoring from the tutors at Catholic Church. I did tailoring from 2006 to 2009, which became my main source of income. In June 2009, I got married and the marriage lasted until September 2011. During that period, I had left the tailoring job since I had a child who I was supposed to take care of. My husband was the provider. After the divorce, I went back home and I was given by my father a room among his extra rooms to stay. Using my savings and additional support from my father, I went to Limuru town market and decided to try selling second-hand cloths. I managed to start the business successfully but it took some time to pick. Until today, I sell second hand cloths in the Limuru Market. I purchase them from Nairobi in Gikomba. I noted that there is a big difference in prices of cloths in Gikomba and Limuru. I decided to employ that opportunity. The business has been very supportive and I have managed come back to my life. I can now manage to support all the needs of my child. I have been using the returns from the business in adding stock and in supporting myself and my child. In case of need, I also support my extended family. I have managed to add stock. I started with just Kshs. 5,000 and my stock is currently worth more than Kshs 45,000. Apart from clothing, I have also been buying women shoes for resale recently. I managed to get a lone of Kshs. 20,000 that is established by the government to support women in groups. That loan helped me a lot. I have never been able to access loans from banks. As a group, we have been able to repay the loan that was given by the government in full. But we have not accessed additional loan after repayment. I think Zidisha is better since I have an opportunity to get bigger loans in future.

My Business

I have been doing my business of selling cloths and shoes only since early 2012 and this is the only source of income for me. My business is good because I do not deal with perishable goods. In addition, the prices that I sell most of the cloths and shoes are almost double the buying price. Thus, the risk is low. We sell the cloths in a field where there are temporary structures that we pay Kshs. 600 per month to the town council. Also, I pay for storage cost Kshs 900 per month. I pay transport to travel to Gikomba, which vary depending on the number of times I go there.I pay Kshs 20 from home to Limuru town every day and also the same amount when going back. From there, I only pay license cost from which has raised this year to Kshs 3000 per year. This means that expenses that my monthly expenses are just around Kshs 2400 (including the license fee). My revenue depends on season. However, during the time when the season is low for the last 8 months, I make total profit of around Kshs. 14,000 in a month. When the season is good, I make upto Kshs 32,000 in total profit per month. I use almost 80% of the revenue in purchasing additional cloths and shoes. The number of times I go to purchase additional stock in Gikomba depends on demand. My profit after deducting all expenses range from Kshs 10,000 to Kshs 25,000. When the season is good, I make savings that help to support my expenses when the season is low. I have a wish and ambition to open a bigger shop with more varieties of cloths and shoes. At the moment, I rely on customers sending me to purchase for them specific varieties when I go to Gikomba. However, some may find the product somewhere else and never come back. Many people like the place where they find many varieties to choose from and where they always get their preferred cloths or shoes. But at the moment, I do not have enough money to purchase the different varieties that are needed. I would like to get a loan that will support me to add my stock and avoid customers going away. I am going to pay the loan smoothly from my earnings and also from savings. Thanks to all lenders and Zidisha who have opened a way to support us. God will bless you.

Loan Proposal

Hi all, thank you for the support. I have an opportunity to add more second hand cloths and shoes (stock) to my business. Nowadays, the second-hand cloths and shoes (Mitumba) are prefered by many to Kenyan made brands because they are much cheaper and more durable. I will be able to pay the loan through the use of my savings and returns from my ongoing business. We are approaching cold season and second hand sweaters are very preferred and am sure that the business will do well. I welcome lenders to support me.

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