Inventory for my fruit palour

James

Nairobi, Kenya

100% repaid

Entrepreneur

Name

James

Member since

January 2015

On-time repayments

87 installments  •  53%

About Me

I am a father of three and a husband to one. I grew up in the hills of Muranga in Central province and I am the 3rd born of my 7 siblings. I had a very humble childhood, I used to do farming with my parents and that's how we were brought up by the produce from the farm being sold to take care of the family expenses and education as well as other needs.
I schooled in a public primary and secondary school and later joined a college where I did my CPA. Through out my life I have been selling produce to support myself through education and my younger siblings as well as help my parents.
I used to wake up very early to milk the cows and also get feed for the goats and cows and water them before I could now go to school or do anything else that day. That slowly became a routine and to add on that was the farming which was the core business of the family.
Through the farming of produce for sale that's how I came to start my own business since I had acquired the experience through time.
Muranga is a very beautiful county that is very hilly and green and is especially known for banana growing which does extremely well. The people here are also very warm and hospitable and anyone feels at home when they are in our county.
My children are grown up and now they are studying in various fields, one is soon to finish her course in Radiology and once she finished she will become a radiologist, my son is also on his way to finish his bachelor in IT and my last born daughter is just starting her law course and hopes to be an advocate once she completes her education.
My past time hobbies are traveling which I love to do when I get the time and I also like playing some Volleyball.

My Business

I am mainly in fruit vending and I usually buy fruits from the farms and sell in the market and other retailers. I also do my own banana farming which does very well here. In Kenya people have really become health conscious and thus take a lot of fruits and thus the fruit market has really grown significantly.
This has really boosted my business since I get fruits from the farm and without having to go through middlemen and thus I promote the farmer through the prices that I buy and then I sell to the market and I have been able to create supply to the urban city of Nairobi.
The costs that I have to incur are transport and capital for the produce as well as the licenses involved in the transportation industry.
The profits that I get I use them to pay my children's school fee, take care of my household expenses and also run my banana farm. Also I am saving for my home construction since I live in a rented house and I have a piece of land which I eventually want to start constructing towards the end of the year.

Loan Proposal

With the loan I will be able to buy fertilizers for my banana farm and also I will be able to increase the amount of produce that I buy from the farms. I usually buy mangoes, avocados, bananas (when I don't have in my farm).
The fertilizer usually costs about 30$ a bag and I will need about three bags for my 100 banana trees that I have planted currently which comes to about 90$then for the capital of the other produce I usually require about 20$ for each variety this comes to 60$ . I also rent a truck which I use for transportation which costs me about 100$.
The benefit of this business is that I am able to educate my children and take care of my household expenses and I also have hired someone who we work with and I have to pay him thus I am also creating employment and also promoting the local farmer by buying at good prices and eliminating the brokers who take advantage of them.
I expect my profits to increase by 40% and this should help me expand my business and also sustain it. I will be able to see improved yields from my farm and thus I will not be buying the bananas and hence cutting down on that cost.
I should be supported because I cannot be able to single handedly meet the full financial requirements of the farm and the business alone because of increased cost of farming inputs like the fertilizers and also the increased cost of transportation due to the raising cost of fuel. Also I have to pay my worker and all these high costs are attributed to the high standards of living in our country.

Feedback

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Loan Info

Project Type

Classic Loan

Disbursed amount

$100.00

Date disbursed

Feb 3, 2015

Repayment status

On Time

Projected term

2 months

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