Laptop so I can work from home in my profession
Sammy
Mombasa, Kenya
100% repaid
Entrepreneur
Name
Sammy
Member since
January 2014
On-time repayments
370 installments • 85%
About Me
My name is Sammy Mwatha, a born again Christian with a strong and fulfilling passion for serving Christ. I am now 55 years old and now a proud father of four (three boys and three girls). I come from the County of Murang’a in Central Kenya. Since I left the Civil Service in 2000, I have been a Secondary school teacher for some years in a number of schools in Central Kenya, Rift Valley, and Nairobi teaching Business Studies and Geography. I have been working with Non-Governmental Organizations since 2003 in diverse areas like Nairobi and the Coast region of Kenya. Until December 2013, I was working for a health NGO but the project ended in December 2013. After the last working tour in the Port City of Mombasa which ended in 2013, I am now moving back to my home town of Murang’a in Central Kenya.
I am a now a Pastor with the Gospel Assembly Church in Murang’a where I launched the local chapter in November 2018 as commissioned by Christ in Matthew 28. I also volunteer worker for an international online Bible-based ministry (Answers2Prayer) answering Bible-based questions from readers since 2008.
My Business
My association with Zidisha began almost 5 years ago when a friend introduced me to Zidisha. After joining, Zidisha facilitated my getting a good laptop to shore up my new venture of online freelance work. This greatly helped me because I could work conveniently from home without having to visit the Cyber Café at odd hours or borrowing a laptop from friends. I had more time for family and my other small scale business of running a motor bike taxi business, known in Kenya as Boda Boda.
The combined income from the Zidisha backed laptop and my boda boda helped to see my daughter through secondary school and she is now in a mid-level college studying automotive engineering. I successfully repaid the loan solely from the proceeds of these two ventures, thanks to Zidisha.
My second Zidisha loan helped me to acquire a brand new laptop to further boost my online work with was growing at a commendable job. I successfully repaid the full loan 2 amount solely from the proceeds coming from writing online on various freelancing websites.
With loan 3 from Zidisha, I had decided to reduce my reliance on the unreliable electricity supply from the sole provider of power, Kenya Power Company. The loan was used to install a solar panel to boost my now full time freelancing online work in my rented apartment. I must say that this venture greatly solidified my work and helped to firmly build an online reputation of reliability among my growing list of international and local clients.
My new working station in Mombasa City was fully powered by solar power panels. The boosted incomes were sufficient to successfully repay loan 3 from Zidisha without any major handicaps. The only drawback was that it was in a rented premise and the time had come to move back to Murang’a last year (I have now dismantled the panels but still have them).
With the 3rd loan, I also opted to pay $177.38 into the Zidisha Members Loan Fund in return for a higher starting credit limit and I am glad I did!
Loan Proposal
My name is Sammy Michael Mwatha, a totally sold to Christ born again Christian with a strong and fulfilling passion for serving Christ. I am 50 years old and a proud father of four (two boys and two girls). I come from the County of Murang’a in Central Kenya but I am now living in the port City of Mombasa in the Coast where I have been working for quite some years now. I live and stay with my second born son who is third year student at a local University studying information technology.
I have been a civil servant for over 10 years working in the reproductive health and family planning sector. In between my Government of Kenya and NGO work I have been a Secondary school teacher for some years in a number of private schools in Central Kenya, Rift Valley and Nairobi teaching Business Studies and Geography. I have been working with Non Governmental Organizations since 2003 in diverse areas like Nairobi, Central Kenya and the Coast region of Kenya. Until December 2013, I was working for a health NGO but the project ended in December 2013.
I am a Church Elder with the Gospel Assembly Church in Mombasa where I work very closely with the local Church Pastor in furthering the Kingdom of God as commissioned by Christ in Matthew 28. I am also a volunteer worker for an online Bible based ministry where I answer Bible based questions from our online ministry Answers2Prayer readers.
When the NGO project which I was working with ended in late 2013, I decided to venture into completely new territory in January 2014 and I am very happy with the outcome. I decided to venture into free lance online writing besides managing my boda boda (motor bike) business started on November of the year 2013.
Since then, online writing has been my principal source of income. Writing is rich potential market waiting to be exploited. This has become a reality thanks partly to my first Zidisha Loan which enabled me to acquire a more convenient computer. From my current online writing, I am able purchase sufficient airtime and internet bundles for my computer and most important of all, to be my own manager, working at my own pace and during my chosen hours doing something I really enjoy: writing. This way, I am able to give proper attention to my family; businesses other interests and have more quality time for my family.
From my Boda Boda business, I am able to pay my house rent and utilities while the online writing takes care of my other domestic needs and school fees for my daughter in high school. I intend to expand this online business as potential is great.
With this new loan I intend to supplement and the funding and then purchase a faster and more applications enabled laptop to upgrade my writing abilities and output.
The income from online writing will be sufficient to take care of all the loan weekly payments.
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Loan Info
Project Type
Classic Loan
Disbursed amount
$174.00
Date disbursed
Jul 1, 2014
Repayment status
On Time
Projected term
30 months
Other loans
Lenders
Guildford, United Kingdom
Hillsboro, United States
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