Supplying home builders with roofing material

Ann

Mombasa Island, Kenya

100% repaid

Entrepreneur

Name

Ann

Member since

March 2015

On-time repayments

248 installments  •  52%

About Me

My name is Ann Wanyika, a mother of one eleven year boy. I was born in deep rural Nyeri – Central Kenya. This area has semi-arid climatic conditions and though almost everybody there is a farmer, there isn’t much in terms of food production to talk about. Most people engage themselves in farming of drought resistant crops such as onions and millet.
I went to school like the rest of the children in the area while helping my parents with their daily chores at home. I cleared my secondary school and the urge to get out of home and venture outside that area got the better of me and I decided to look for a college in Mombasa. Luckily I got an admission to join a hospitality training school in Mombasa which is about 700 kilometers from home – exactly what I wanted.

I joined the college and did a course in hotel management and I secured a job after completing the course. My first job was in a beach hotel in an area called South Coast which is about 20 kilometers south of Mombasa. I loved this job since it is exactly what I was trained to do and I was able to meet people from different nationalities since the hotel was a tourist resort.

Unfortunately there was a slump in tourism activity after a series of terrorist attacks and the hotel closed down due to lack of business. With no where to take my skills, I decided to change my career and with the little money I had saved, I decided to start selling construction materials mostly house hold sanitary equipment such as cisterns and related accessories.

I am also involved in community work as explained on this website. www.g2gchildrenshome.or.ke

My Business

I decided to start this business because Mombasa is a big city which is growing at a very rapid pace. This has resulted into an explosion of new buildings which are coming up in every corner of the city. The middle class is also growing fast and most of them are obsessed with owing their own housed. For this reason, the demand for construction and finishing materials is quite high and I decided to swim along this wave so as benefit from the boom.
I run a small store in the backstreets of Mombasa city where I stock sinks and tubes. I have a good number of loyal clients who keep coming back to buy from my shop. The visibility of my store is not very good since I operate in a backstreet and I sometimes forced to sell these items from door to door so as to reach more clients. I am hoping to open another store in the main streets of the city once the business grows to sustain such a store.

I get most of my stock from big stores where I buy at a whole sale price and then retail the items at a profit. My profit margin ranges between 20 – 30%.
I currently make a net profit of about USD300 per month and I use this money to support my boy who is in school and for my own upkeep. This income can grow much more if get reliable and affordable credit. I believe in Zidisha I have found a reliable partner.

Loan Proposal

I deal sale with building materials but mostly electrical and plumbing items. I now want to introduce roofing sheets which are equally in high demand in my area due to rapid growth of my city.

I will use the entire amount of this loan to buy about 10 dozen iron sheets which I will later sell at a profit margin of about 20%. This is a new venture for me and I am hoping that it will be a success.

Thank you for your continued support.

Feedback

6

None

None

  • Madeleine    Aug 4, 2017

    Wonderful! You paid back the loan so fast, you are a hard working woman! I believe in you!

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  • Mary    Jun 14, 2017

    I would gladly loan to Ann again!

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  • Sue L    Apr 3, 2017

    So nice to see you doing well, Ann. Great that you were able to pay back early. All the best in your other endeavors.

    Log in to reply • Share
  • Liam    Mar 29, 2017

    Great work! Ann paid back early.

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Loan Info

Project Type

Classic Loan

Disbursed amount

$202.00

Date disbursed

Apr 4, 2017

Repayment status

On Time

Projected term

11 months

Lenders

ErikN

Stockholm, Sweden

I

Interfree

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

K

Kinger

Dublin, Ireland

hugomesser

Blokker, Netherlands

M

marcmesich

Kaohsiung, Taiwan

O

ommthree

Egg, Switzerland

DVM1417

Seaford, United States

JFais

Atlanta, United States

N

NickLuder

London, United Kingdom

ibc123

Seattle, United States

B

Baldnerd69

Cross Plains, United States

J

jcappel

Toronto, Canada

Evan Lamos

Brussels, Belgium

A

adiipienaar

South Africa

Paul Buchheit

Mountain View, United States

S

sarah4d2

Saint Louis, United States

J

jsbisa

New Orleans, Louisiana, United States

B

bscent

Hong Kong

V

vbud

United States

T

Tim47

United States

OllieOladele

London, United Kingdom

Haim Si

Mexico, Mexico

WH

Walter Hill

United States

W

Wade

United States

MA

Mary Art Hunt

United States

JA

Jared Anthony

CT, United States

Bank of Sofie

Drammen, Norway

MM

Marshall M

United States

J�

Jan Čapek

Czech Republic

G

godwintang

Costa Rica

UK

Uday Kolluri

New York, Singapore

V

Vidar

Oslo, Norway

HS

Heather Sage

United States

Iris

Ireland

Pedro

Meilen, Switzerland

RC

Rudi Chen

United States

roark22

Geneva, Switzerland

Carla

United States

SB

Sue Bucholz

Sacramento, United States

KT

Kate Turner

United States

FA

Felipe Ardila

United States

RB

Ruth Brown

United States

L

Linn

United Kingdom

E

Elle

New York, United States

L

Lucy

Australia

Angi

Germany

Benjamin Kniaz

Boston, United States

SH

Stephanie He

United States

GS

Gary Sinard

Franklin, TN, United States

ED

Eunan Doherty

donegal ireland, Ireland

Z

Zidishartm

Rotterdam, Netherlands

Christian

Vienna, Austria

SS

Sarah sewall

United States

Mike

Indianapolis, United States

M

Mary

United States

J

Julia

United States

rob baird

Darwin Australia, Australia

E

Emma

Australia

Ask Ann a question about this project, share news and photos of your own, or send a simple note of thanks or inspiration.

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