Entrepreneur

About Me

My name is Carolyne Wanjiru. I am 30 years old and a single mother of two children, a boy and a girl, who are eight and three years old. They are both in school. We live in Umoja Estate with my four siblings. As my mother passed away when we were young and our dad was living and working very far away from us, I had to take on the role of a mother when I was only twelve years old. This taught me responsibility at a very young age.

I successfully finished my O-levels. I had started studying psychology in college, but due to financial constrains I wasn't able to finish. I did voluntary counselling test (VCT) and I worked with different organisations sensitizing about H I.V.

Amongst the economic strains in the country due to post-election violence, I decided to venture into business. I opened a salon and a cafe in my home estate. For the last two years, it has been the source of my family income. The business's income has allowed me to pay my family's bills, my children's tuition fees, and other basic needs.

My desire is to be able to go back and finish my psychology course. I am hopeful that Zidisha support will help me to accomplish this goal. All is possible through hard work and having faith in God.

My Business

I run a cafeteria at Umoja Estate. I deal with snacks and soft drinks. I started the business because there is always a demand for food. My clients prefer my business because I am able to offer them credit on their purchases until the end of the month. Our prices are highly competitive in the market. The business is profitable because I am able to source goods in the market at a better price than buying at the estate.

The challenges and risks that we face are financial constraints in the daily running of business. When the prices for goods rise in the market, this cost cannot always be passed on to the client, resulting in a decreased profit margin. Our monthly cost is 12,000 KSH. Our profit is 3,000 KSH per month.

If I can secure this loan, I’ll be able to increase the income from my business by being able to purchase and sell increased amounts of stock. I am working hard to get different sources of income: the salon/cafe and now the opportunity to supply clothes for this tender I have been given.

Loan Proposal

To increase and boost the stock and renovate the cafe,to make more attractive to the customers and this will help increase the demand and supply and by that the sales will be high.Having more stock this will help us to extend our services, and be able to give outside catering to those customers who are not able to pop in at the cafe.

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