Repainting my taxi & small repairs

Charles

Kakamega, Kenya

100% repaid

Entrepreneur

Name

Charles

Member since

February 2015

On-time repayments

293 installments  •  74%

About Me

My names are charles Nderitu Thuku last born in a family of six. I was born in the year 1987 august 14 in central part of Kenya. I went to lemok primary and then moved to kakamega primary that is in western were my elder brother was employed as a driver. I moved to kakamega because my mother was not in a position to pay for my school fees and at that time my parents had separated. My mother later on passed. After primary I joined Ingotse high school were I completed my O'level. I later joined Nibs college which I dint complete for lack of fees. I started working as a turn boy loading building materials on the lories. In 2009 I decided to go back to western n start a small business. I bought compact disks(movies) at a wholesale price of sh 20/= each which I sold at a retail of sh 50/= each. I did that for almost one year but due to the county council demanding for permits I had to drop the business. A friend of mine offered me a job to be his conductor . I would look for clients to board taxi and at the end of the day earn something for my stomach and some small savings. After two years I was able to get my first loan from one financial institutions and was able to partner with one of my friends to buy one second hand car which we used as a taxi. I could work during the day as he worked at night. By then I had gone for driving school and qualified. After sometime we sold the car and shared the money equally. I was able to buy my own though not on cash but I always worked hard to pay the difference. I am now married with one kid my wife used to sale clothes but due to expansion of the roads the stalls were demolished. Still looking for somewhere to put up the business.

My Business

I do car hire and taxi services here in Kakamega town. Initially I operated a small boutique which my wife was running but due to expansion of the roads the stalls were demolished but I was lucky to get another space were I have set up a motorcycle spare parts shop. With the little savings I have set from my other business which Zidisha has been my pivot the business is doing great.
I chose this business because most people in this town use motorbikes as a means of transport because its cheap and convenient and thats were my spare business comes in. In this town we have over ten thousand motorbikes and i can tell we have not more than ten shops though we have three big ones which the owners import the spares directly from china were we small retailers we go and buy from them. (Looking forward to that too)
From the profit I make am able to restock my shop as well as pay school fees for my loving daughter.
From my shop am able to make upto 70% profit everymonth.
At the same time I also get around ksh 70000 from my taxi business from which am able to pay for the monthly instalments for my car and the other twenty thousand I add stock to my shop and do small savings.
Thank you all.

Loan Proposal

Thank you again for this chance. I have been in transport business for some time now and it has been doing great. With the new loan am going to repaint my taxi at 600 dollars and do some small repairs like replacing the boll joints at 100 dollars,shocks at 120 dollars. With the painting and the service my business will be as good as usual because my clients. Like comfy and smart vehicles.
On my side it will be an advantage because al maintain my clients for the good service which means I will make more cash hence profit.
To my business it will be a plus simply because the clients that I have lost because of the bad condition of my car I will be able to win them back hence profit to my business.
Thank you all for the continued support and God bless.

Feedback

None

None

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Loan Info

Project Type

Classic Loan

Disbursed amount

$900.00

Date disbursed

Feb 5, 2017

Repayment status

On Time

Projected term

7 months

Lenders

Paul Buchheit

Mountain View, United States

PG

Paul Graham

United States

Craig Newmark

United States

The Zinc Team

San Francisco, United States

Humble Bundle Community

San Francisco, United States

A

Anonymous

United States

Paul Buchheit

Mountain View, United States

Ask Charles 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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  • Charles    May 24, 2023

    Hello team zidisha. Having some payment delays due to the harsh economy but I believe all will be well thank you.

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  • Charles    Apr 5, 2023

    Thank you so much Esther for the generous funding of my project am going to place the order immediately and make some profit which I believe I will also extend the hand and fund someone else and be a blessing as you have just done.
    This I believe are baby steps I will keep on sharing with the family the progress.

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  • Charles    Apr 14, 2021

    Thank you team Zidisha for giving me this opportunity once again.
    From my past loan I was able to set up a restaurant which really gave me some good returns. For over a year. Which helped me boost my car hire business but unfortunately the restaurant was closed down due to a court case which I even uploaded here but I thank God I had pumped in the profits to my car hire business which is still running smoothly. Currently am operating two small vehicles but I want to sale one of them and add top up with this loan if it's funded to get a big car that will help me make more money considering we are heading to general elections come next year. My target is to get a Prado J120 with sunroof to enable political aspirants use my vehicle to address their supporters easily.

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  • Charles    Mar 7, 2021

    Good morning team zidisha, remember this girl some time back with much love team zidisha helped me out by funding me when she was on her lowest she need to go for surgery.. Now she's a big girl now seeing dad off to work my taxi business .. Life is beautiful with young ones around.. God bless the work of my hands God bless team zidisha.

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  • Charles    Feb 28, 2021

    Good morning team zidisha, it's a beautiful morning as we go back to our business. Business has picked up compared to the past month and we thank God for that. Still pushing on.

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  • Charles    Feb 5, 2021

    Hello team zidisha I believe you doing good am well too we just getting back to business as we all know 2020 was a big mess but we believe all shall be well we keep on grinding.. Keep safe

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  • Charles    Jan 19, 2021

    Hey team zidisha.. Still working on starting another business kindly bare with me but AL soon come up with something new am currently not doing good thank you

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  • Charles    Dec 1, 2020

    Times are really tough but will be going back to my initial payments soon thank you

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  • Lilian    Nov 27, 2020

    I have spoken to charles who has promised to reschedule payment to a lower amount he will be paying comfortable untill his business picks up
    Thanks for understanding

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  • Charles    Oct 7, 2020

    Hey team zidisha. Things are really hard with the covid 19 my business was pararised but still trying to come up with another strategy

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  • Lilian    Sep 27, 2020

    Halo lenders .. I am an able to get Charles on phone and his reference but will try again

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    • Charles    Feb 5, 2021

      Hello Lilian hope you doing good... Av not been using a smart phone for a while now that's why av not been posting here but am repaying my loan on time. but am good my number is still on...

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  • Charles    Aug 24, 2020

    Good morning team zidisha, times are really tough here businesses are no longer running as they used to but working on something else hopefully it will work thank you for your continued support.

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  • Charles    Jun 24, 2020

    Hello team zidisha times are hard but just trying hope things will be OK soon

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  • Charles    Apr 23, 2020

    Hi team zidisha.. Business is on standstill and we are just struggling but believe things will be okay soon

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  • Charles    Feb 26, 2020

    business has been so low but soon i believe all shall be well

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  • Charles    Jan 2, 2020

    Hi team zidisha ylmy apologies for the late payments business has not picked up again but promise to increase my installments once am back to my feets again thank you.

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  • Charles    Oct 27, 2019

    Hi team zidisha its unfortunate we had to close the lounge due to a case pending in court and my other sources of income cant be able to pay the installments as agreed but i believe all shall be well.

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  • Charles    Sep 11, 2019

    Hey team zidisha, am requesting for a change in my installment amount due to unavoidable circumstances but promise to keep reducing my loan thank you all.

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  • Charles    Jul 27, 2019

    Good evening team zidisha thank you for this opportunity once again business on my side is not good at all but promise to adjust my installments once business is good again. Thank you

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  • Charles    Jun 4, 2019

    I humbly request a reduction in my installment due to lack of business at the moment my business has been affected big time and am now looking for ways to change the whole structure thank you.

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