Return, recycle & re-use

Entrepreneur

About Me

My name is Zachary Muhande, a father of six children. Two school going and the other four are out of school. I was born 53 years ago in Western Kenya and later came to Coast region of Kenya where I was employed as an office machine technician.

I was employed for twenty years where I gained important experience and started my own business dealing with office equipment in 1998. The business has been in operation since then through hard work and support from family and friends. I am based in Mombasa but my family is in Western Kenya where I visit them once in a while.

My Business

My business deals with office equipment particularly photocopiers and computer printers. I also sell toner and ink cartridges for printers and photocopiers. I have one worker who helps me in the workshop and to run errands. I also recycle toner cartridges for clients who cannot afford to buy new ones.

I make a net profit of about $400 and an injection of more capital that I am requesting will go a long way in expanding my business.

Loan Proposal

This is my second loan application at Zidisha. The first loan gave my business a big boost as I outlined in my previous report. I deal with refilling toner and ink cartridges. I am now working with a local organization Mombasa Environment Management Authority (MEMA) to address the issue of e-waste which has become a major concern in urban areas such as Mombasa.

I have undergone training of managing electronic waste and I am currently sensitizing the consumers about handling their printer cartridges once they get finished. I give them options of refilling them or calling me to collect them from their offices. As an incentive, we give them ½ dollar for every toner cartridge and about ¼ for every ink cartridge returned to us. I then give the returned cartridges to MEMA for proper disposal and they reimburse the money paid for the old cartridges.

About half of the returned cartridges are still usable if well re-filled. If given this money, I will spend it as follows:
$200 to buy toner (black powder)
$100 to buy ink for ink cartridges
$150 to pay for returned cartridges – this will later be reimbursed later.

Feedback

Loan Info

Lenders