Inventory for my clothing retail shop

Justina

Nairobi, Kenya

33% repaid

Entrepreneur

Name

Justina

Member since

June 2014

On-time repayments

175 installments  •  25%

About Me

I am a hardworking mother of a seven month old beautiful girl. My family is composed of 6 siblings amongst which I am the second born. I have a diploma in Hospitality and since my baby came I had promised myself to revive further my clothes vending business and to open up new outlets and expand my profit making business. I decided to raise capital and put up two shops in which the yet-to-be-opened one needs full stock of children's clothes. I do voluntary work during my free time as a hobby and even visit children's homes and prisons. Besides, I am God-fearing and care so much for the little ones. It’s my plan to ship my stock from the USA, Britain and accessories like ornaments from Dubai. I have projected sales of over USD15, 000 after this year as I surpassed the half mark a month ago.

My Business

My business begun two years ago after my school fees became a burden to myself and my parents. Two months later I maneuvered my ways to raise capital and put up a small kiosk selling second hand clothes. 6 months later I partnered with a friend who after a while got a scholarship and left me with the profits as a souvenir for our struggles. 365 days later, I had posted a profit of thrice my accumulative capital. I took 70% of the returns and invested it in putting up 2 new shops. One is stocked fully and the other yet to be opened since I have run out of cash to purchase stock.

The first step I did about starting a clothing business is deciding what types of clothing to sell. It is more beneficial to sell a particular niche of clothing, such as children's clothes vs. clothes in general. Customers tend to respect the expertise of specialists when shopping for specific clothing. Sell clothing items in which you are interested or have product knowledge. So I decided to sell children's clothes in my yet-to-be-opened new shop. The market niche I am in has 2 maternity homes in a circumference of a kilometre and this is a residential area. My profits shot up owing to the fact that we marketed our products door to door, through print media and social media. The only risk is that competition is taking a different course whereby imported goods have more in flow and foreigners have based themselves around the vicinity after a new mall was opened near our market zone. So most of the loan, about 805 will be to purchase stock and spin the business to higher profits by the time the new entrants establish themselves.

Loan Proposal

I will purchase inventory for my baby boutique and open up new outlets and jobs. This will fulfill my wish to import my stock form the USA, Britain and Dubai in a span of 365days. 70% of the funds(USD100) will be channelled into buying warm clothing for kids from age 0 to 7 years old. 20% will for purchasing toys and the rest for miscellaneous expenses like transport, power etc. I believe after all goes well by the end of the cold season, I will have enough savings and profit to expand my business with new stock composed of imported baby's clothes, prams, cots, cat seats baby's baths and so on.

I have developed a plan to fund my baby store so as to reveal for such expenses as the leasing of retail space, baby-related merchandise, staff, taxes and office equipment. As I have already decorated the store in a unique, colourful style that will appeal to customers shopping for baby merchandise, this has attracted more customers. This is supported by the fact that my store is located in a high-traffic, high-visibility area, near a shopping mall.

I have been marketing my new baby store specifically to those who may be purchasing baby items. My target market includes women who are expecting or have infants, new or soon-to-be grandmothers, godmothers and people purchasing gifts for baby showers or first birthdays. I have placed ads in local publications frequently read by women and put flyers and brochures in cafes, gyms, yoga studios, child care centres and other places where women gather. Offering coupons and discounts to draw in first-time customers has been a norm.

The store has Internet presence and has an additional cost of website design, maintenance and hosting. I have always funded my business with personal capital, loans from family or friends, bank loans or funding from other investors such as venture capitalists.

I obtained a vendor's license through the county administration office and named my business. Besides, I have found a manufacturer supplier for my clothing products.

I have also called several wholesalers and manufactures to find out which ones sell the products I plan to market. I have engaged the wholesalers and manufacturers if they will drop-ship products, which means they will ship products to my customers. I fell for the drop shipping option as it will eliminate large investments in clothing inventory. This is how I selected the wholesaler that provides me with the lowest unit cost on clothing.
I also have a bank account which is well managed.

Feedback

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Loan Info

Project Type

Classic Loan

Disbursed amount

$150.00

Date disbursed

Jul 14, 2014

Repayment status

Late

Projected term

41 months

Lenders

Lauren Rosenbaum

Washington, DC, United States

Pere

Barcelona, Spain

S

Suspiria

Wolverhampton, United Kingdom

P

Pavane

Kungsbacka, Sweden

Richard Griebe

La Jolla, United States

D

DanielW

United States

Vesa

Helsinki, Finland

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  • Justina    Jan 5, 2016

    My apologies for lagging behind on my scheduled payments. I had traveled abroad in mid September and I promise to pay the outstanding amount as soon as I jet back end of this month. Thank you!

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  • Justina    Apr 24, 2015

    I expanded my stock to selling kids' clothes for ages between 5 and 10. Part of my shop in the photo.

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  • Justina    Apr 11, 2015

    I am able to pay this amount at this moment.

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  • Justina    Feb 6, 2015

    My business is flourishing well. Had to increase my stock this month due to upsurge in demand

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  • Justina    Nov 6, 2014

    I am glad I had this loan from Zidisha

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  • Justina    Sep 28, 2014

    I have been off my business for the last one month and the returns for the month has almost hit nil except for the little sales that i have pulled off when i reopened last week. I would like to bounce back to my current repayment amount after a while since my finances have dwindled overtime. In the meantime I would like to repay with the quoted amount so that I get ample time to settle and revive my business for now. Otherwise, sales are good and m customers are streaming back with smiling faces to buy more.

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  • Justina    Jul 14, 2014

    Dear Lenders, I received the loan disbursement and now i am on my mission. Be assured to get regular updates about my business. Thanks you.

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  • Justina    Jul 12, 2014

    For all the lenders who have dedicated their money on my business, I assure you that your money is safe with me and this will help me boost my business to the next level. I am grateful for the support and i will be updating you guys on my progress as soon as i put my to-do list in order.

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  • Justina    Jul 10, 2014

    My loan proposal has attracted 85% of funding in 4 days!!! Wow i am so grateful to adrianogosuen, kjustad, goodwithoutgod, LaurenR, Pavane, Schwerbelastung, griebe, DanielW and any other lender who would be interested in my business and help me raise inventory capital.

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  • Justina    Jul 9, 2014

    Thank you Lauren for the huge lending and having faith in my business.

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  • Justina    Jul 8, 2014

    Good progress after two days pf application. Lenders out there I am seeking your assistance to help me scale my business to further heights. Michael Onyango who referred me to Zidisha has high praises for this lending platform and I would like to experience the same joy he has.

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  • Justina    Jul 8, 2014

    I have clarified the financials about my business and I would like to purchase the stock as soon as next week. All I need is a start-up inventory capital for the new shop.

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  • Justina    Jul 7, 2014

    my first shop

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