Backup generator for poultry egg incubator

Entrepreneur

About Me

ABOUT ME
I am Joshua Ndarathi Gicheru. I was born and brought up in Nyeri county, Karatina Sub-county in an estate called Kiawarigi and currently live in Karatina, Kiawarigi Estate. I am married to one wife and have two kids; a girl who is 4 years and a boy who is 2 years old. I am the fifth born in a family of eight siblings. The eldest one is married with 4 children while the youngest is newly married. I started schooling in Icuga Primary School in the year 1988 and completed eight years later in the year 1995. I joined Nyeri high school in the year 1996 and cleared in 1999. I joined university in the year 2000 and enrolled for Livestock Production course which I completed in the year 2005.It almost took me 6 years in the university due to constant students and lecturers strikes. I joined the work world in the year 2006.
I have worked in various breeding companies since and resigned in the year 2013 to start my own business. All along, I had been trying to get funding from financial institutions but sometimes was very disappointed when they decline to fund me. The major banks usually ask for securities such as land titles, car log books etc which most young people can not afford. I once started a stationery business but could not proceed due to under funding. I could spend some of the profits in supporting the family instead of expanding the business. This led to collapse of the business but if I got funds, the business could have expanded into a mega business. In another instance, I bought an internet business on credit but was not able to clear the balance at the stipulated time. I tried borrowing money from friends and relatives but what they could afford was not enough to clear the balance. At the end of it all, I was evicted. With all these unfortunate instances, I wished there could have been an institution like Zidisha, then I could have prospered. I now thank God that Zidisha has come to our rescue from these mean financial institutions! These institutions charge exorbitant interest rates which basically scare away young investors. Interest rates range from 12-16% on constant rate. Very few banks offer loans on reducing balance which could be very favourable for the younger generation. Loan application takes ages before it is approved. I therefore consider myself a lucky person to be associated with Zidisha.
My hobbies and interests are music, social networking, reading inspirational books, traveling and most of all reading the word of God. During my free time, I travel a lot to see my friends and know how they are doing as we exchange ideas businesswise. I gain and share a lot of knowledge during these encounters. We go visiting unique sites, game and national parks especially during school vacations. In this way, my family is able to recreate and are able to proceed with their normal duties with minimal boredom. Thank you.

My Business

ABOUT MY BUSINESS.
My business name is Wonderland Breeders and commenced early this year (2014). After years of being employed by breeding companies, I decided to start my own small farm. Remuneration by these companies was very low and could not sustain my young family. I had to look for an alternative way of earning a living.
I started by buying a 60 eggs incubator worth USD 140 from my savings. I bought hatching eggs and incubated and at the end of the 21 days, I got 50 chicks which I sold and got my initial capital of USD 60. Demand for indigenous chicken had been rising by day.
From the money I got from the sale of chicks, I bought 60 hatching eggs, incubated and got 55 chicks which I sold at USD 64. The business has continued to thrive to this day despite challenges facing it. The major challenges are power failures and lack of a bigger incubator thus I am not able to meet the demand for chicks.
The business which started with a capital of around USD 200 is now worth USD 500. I usually make sales after every 3 weeks. I make profit of around USD 100 in the three weeks. I have been able to employ one poultry attendant on casual basis. That's how my business came along.
Through this venture, I have been able to supplement my family's income, pay my assistant, and also financially support part of my extended family. I have also been able to put up chicken houses for future expansion.


With time, the demand for indeginous chicks has rapidly gone up.This is because my customers have realized that the exotic birds are not very resistant to diseases in Kenya. The chicks can also be fed on left overs and allowed to free range. This cuts down feeds costs immensely. My customer services are highly professional as I do encourage customer feedback about many issues. In addition, I provide high quality chicks at affordable prices which are not given by my competitors. I also offer after-sale-service to my customers.I take pride in this.
MY LOAN PROPOSAL .
I would first want to appreciate the Zidisha team for receiving and considering my application for a loan request. Again I say thank you.
Having tried to source for funds elsewhere unsuccessfully,I felt that Zidisha is the only place I could finally call home because it is now a well known, convinient and reliable source of funding for small growing businesses.With the loan given to me, I will be able to expand my current business by buying a bigger incubator and a power generator.This will ensure that I retain my customers and avoid situations where they don't get options and end up at my competitors door step. I will also introduce other breeds of birds to cater for customers different tastes and preferences.
As my business grows, I'm sure I will be able to create employment and become a business mentor to the many hopeless youths around that area.

Loan Proposal

First am very excited about the loan at this particular time. I must say I was a little disappointed by not meeting my customers demands for chicks. I have an order of over 500 chicks which I was not able to supply. It was very unfortunate that I lost almost the whole hatch (on 16th May 2014) due to constant power failures. Hatching requires uninterrupted power supply, failure to that, one loses the chicks through early and late deaths.

When I receive this loan,I want to buy a power back-up which costs approximately USD 125. The rest of the amount I will buy more hatching eggs to increase my output. This way I will be able to produce more chicks thus more sales. I will then be able to repay the loan quite easily. Thankyou.

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