Laptop to help me work outside the office

Gabriel

Nakuru, Kenya

100% repaid

Entrepreneur

Name

Gabriel

Member since

January 2015

On-time repayments

188 installments  •  91%

About Me

My name is Gabriel Njenga born back in 25/08/1981 -but im not as old as you want assume i am hehehe- i was born in Nakuru a place called Njoro being the tenth child of Francis and Teresia. I started my elementary education in a school called Ngano primary school then shifted to another new school (Kaiyaba primary school) that had just been built and was nearer my home and became among the first students to enroll there. i passed my final exams enough to find myself a place in Kilimo High school located within Egerton University Njoro. After my o-level exams, i got an average grade. My brother who had volunteered to pay for my high school, school fees after the demise of my father invited me to go and supervise how the building was being done in a parcel of land he had purchased -that is after the high school exams. i requested him to let me be one of the casual workers there and he let me.This job was search a difficult one considering that i was still young to lift heavy building bush stone but thank God i had already gotten the experience in search energetic jobs when my father died at my tender age and since my mother was a small scale farmer she could only afford little for us to eat, this meant that anything else was purely within what i could do to do earn. I could take a bicycle go to the forest cut dead tree branches bring them to my neighbours as firewood for a pay, sometimes i could go to the owners of large farms do weeding for half a dollar as a the pay. At my brothers home who lived in Eldoret i gathered some money that he later topped up for my college. I did a course in computer applications then further computer engineering. I did all this with the hope that one day i would get a better job to atleast change my living standards and that of my mother who i love with all my heart. Before the end of the last course, i got attached in a college that was offering information technology course as a tutor and technician. After 3 months of attachment i was employed in the same college and i here my first salary Kes4000 a month which to me appeared a miracle. i worked there from year 2004 to 2006 and after the change of management i got fired. It is because of this that i suddenly thought the only way to keep my confident and work without the fear of being fired that the idea of self-employment hatched. i started dreaming of a company but all this was just like a mirage because i didn't know where and how to start since i could hardly raise money for my own food and other expenses even. i had to think very fast on the next course of action to take for my up keep before the land lord could lock me out. i started freelancing and i would find students then borrow a space and computers in town from my friends and train them from there. i would also trouble shoot and fix machines for a pay. After the election fracas that occurred in 2007-2008. i really was affected psychologically which also affected my job. The job became impossible and a friend of mine Eric Ouma who we used to work together in the institution and was now working in a supermarket in Eldoret offered to speak to his boss so he could agree to employ me in the supermarket which he did. Thanks to Eric because he was asked to call me and handed my CV over. After 3 days i was called for an interview where i passed. i started working there in IT department. i worked for 2 1/2 yrs. I relocated to Nakuru to begin a different life because the idea of self-employment was still lingering in me. Im now married to a lovely woman and are both pushing on to see what more life has for us. If all goes well i want to found a home for the less fortunate and other than my business.

My Business

After resigning i relocated to Nakuru in July 2011 and started a business of buying and selling of Mali Mali (mixed small personal use items such combs, mirrors and other personal effects). I was doing all this with the hope that if all went well i would start my computer institution from the income generated by the business a dream i have always hope that one day shall come true. This however did not go as expected, the business did not do well and i thought it was all because of location. i rented different shop and still the results were not encouraging. It was at this point where i decided to close the shop. I closed the shop in August 2011, bought a small HP printer and then brought in a computer i had bought in the years 2008 and a the table in the house.i bought several plastic stools and i started doing printing and miraculously i got 1 student who paid for me to teach her. i she successfully completed her course and was happy that she could operate a computer by her self. She later brought her sister and i enrolled her and she also completed. i then managed to buy another small refurbished computer from the little i had secured. i did a small advertisement and i got 4 students enrolled for a computer application course. Since then i have managed to training over fifty students. i also involve myself alot with graphic design and computer maintenance. Though there are alot of challenges still i can stand a living testimony and a prove that one can start from no where, with the little you have to start. It is also very important that we don't loose hope and neglect our dreams. In future i want to own an institute a photo studio, a bigger and luxurious cyber cafe and a computer accessories shop. My main challenge to see this happen is a source of capital to buy the required equipment for all this.

Loan Proposal

Hello lenders, having completed the project previously at hand, i take this opportunity first to thank you for your continued support, secondly i would like to inform you that the next project is the purchase of a laptop that will help me get a little mobile. This will enable me utilize the free time i sometimes have at home to enable me finish excess work that is becoming a challenge for me to do at the office. Sometimes clients want me to listen to what they have to say which of course consumes a lot more working time, eventually i end up not meeting the deadline and this paints a picture to the clients that i'm not an able person. The laptop therefore is going to be the solution. The laptop is going to operate with the latest version of windows making it possible for me to run programs that are a little more newer unlike the machines am currently using. A laptop that goes for between $300-$350 dollars is ok.
Other than that i have managed save $450 from the business and i will direct that on purchasing yet another printer preferably the same printer L800 or L805 that i previously purchased since the current one is sometimes not able to meet the demand.
2017 being electioneering year here in Kenya, we are expecting that a lot of campaign materials will be printed and this will increase the work load. I'm therefore purchasing this machines to get equipped and wait for this major reaping season.
It is my sincere hope that you will see it that a success to this project is realized. God bless Zidisha Community.

Feedback

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  • Svenip    Dec 23, 2018

    Fully repaid on time. I'm happy to see his business growing.

    Log in to reply • Share


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Loan Info

Project Type

Classic Loan

Disbursed amount

$355.00

Date disbursed

Oct 9, 2016

Repayment status

On Time

Projected term

4 months

Lenders

Matching Fund

Sterling, United States

Paul Buchheit

Mountain View, United States

The Zinc Team

San Francisco, United States

Humble Bundle Community

San Francisco, United States

A

Anonymous

United States

A

Anonymous

United States

Paul Buchheit

Mountain View, United States

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