Inventory of environmentally friendly cooking fuel
Esther
Mombasa, Kenya
100% repaid
Entrepreneur
Name
Esther
Member since
June 2014
On-time repayments
415 installments • 69%
About Me
My name is Esther Wanjiru and Kenyan citizen. I am a teacher of English and English literature. I am a second born in a family of five. I was born in Kiambu county Kenya where I went through my primary school education then secondary school. I later joined Kenyatta University where I took a course in Bachelor of Arts and later a post graduate diploma in Education. I later got employed as a teacher and posted to Mombasa County where I am still teaching.
I am a mother of two young children.
I started a business in 2010 to supplement my salary since I had difficulties in meeting my many expenses such as rent, school fees for my children, transport e and also helping out my ageing parents back home. I run a general shop where I sell common household items like flour, soap, sugar etc. I also sell cooking gas in cylinders. I also started a money transfer business (M-pesa) within the same establishment. I rely on two workers to run the business since I spend most of time in school where I work.
I am a go-getter, focused and very ambitious woman. I believe in integrity and hard work.
My Business
As stated above, I run a three in one business – the main one being the shop where there is a steady flow of shoppers who buy goods worth anything from $0.5 to $20 per shopper. I also sell gas cylinders in quantities of 3kg and 13kg at a retail price of $7 and $26 respectively. I also do a money transfer business (called M-Pesa locally) where I serve about 60 clients daily.
The three departments give me a net profit of about $650 per month – after paying the rent, other bills and salaries.
My business requires heavy investment for buying stock especially the gas section. I sometimes fail to cope with the demand of the gas cylinders since my stock gets depleted very fast especially during the end-month when most workers get paid. I have decided to join Zidisha to access credit which will enable me to build up my stock as this will bring satisfaction to my customers.
Loan Proposal
I have been retailing LPG gas for a number of years now. I normally sell about 30 cylinders per month. I have found this business to be quite lucrative and less labor intensive compared to the other types of business that I do.
I want to expand this business and run it in a separate premises. I want to get the cylinders directly from the dealer and then sell them at on wholesale. I have done a proper feasibility study and the business looks very promising.
I will use USD 800 to lease the new premises and get the necessary licenses. I will use the remaining amount to buy my first stock of these LPG cylinders.
Thank you.
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Loan Info
Project Type
Classic Loan
Disbursed amount
$3,248.00
Date disbursed
Mar 13, 2017
Repayment status
Late
Projected term
58 months
Lenders
United States
San Francisco, Netherlands
United States
United States
United States
Germany
Jake Gibson and Beverly Picardo
San Francisco, United States
Sweden
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