Tree nursery expansion

Entrepreneur

About Me

Kevin was born and raised in Ulafu village in Siaya county, Kenya. Growing under the care of grandmother after the separation of the parents, I got to learn and associate with basic Luo culture and farming as the main source of our food. I went to a rural primary school, Nina before passing my exams to proceed to O-levels only to drop out of school due to sickness and death of my grandmother who was the pillar in my schooling in terms of school fee and basic school needs. My hopes of going back to school were over as my mother was struggling in the city to have a life. I presented my academic report to some of the relatives who were impressed with my performances. They teamed together to support my mother pay my school fee which enable me resume my studied after one year of being home. From this I managed to proceed to public university as a regular student. I did study Agriculture Economics at Egerton University.
I later studied sustainable agriculture which enable me reconcile with nature. This enable me to come to the reality of climatic change and working towards conservation. From this I started a small tree nursery for my own consumption. This was to try and rehabilitate the environment through tree planting. People later started asking if I could sell to them the tree seedlings and it’s from this that I realized a business opportunity. It was not long before I was through out of the land with claims I did not belong there and had no right to inherit land from my grandmother’s place. I secured job with a community based organization from which I saved to buy quarter of an acre land. From here I re-established the tree nursery in a small scale but with bigger aims.
My free times are spent in observing natural patterns in nature and reading explorative novels. I play basketball occasionally and help mentor young people in the village to enable them focus in their dreams. My dream is to make it in life no matter what challenges comes my way.

My Business

The tree nursery if offering tree seedlings at different stages. Most of the seedlings are agro-forestry trees graveilla species dominating the production. The production plans is expand to animal fodder including bees. With the current climatic changes and erratic rainfalls leading to poor crop productions has seen people diversifying to agro-forestry. Campaigns by NGOs and Governments has also seen the tree planting culture on the rise. These has led to high demand of planting materials in the area of residence. The seedlings are sourced from far and this increases their cost to the people in need of them. Tapping this opportunity to its full potential will lead to a fat returns.
The choice of this particular business runs from my childhood background, education and village life and farming experience. The major recurrent costs in this business is seeds, potting bags, manure and water during dry spells. With expansion plans in mind, rain water harvesting and on-farm manure production are top in the list. Seed banking is planned for future sustainability and diversification. Main source of revenue is from sale of seedlings. This will expand to timber and fodder production in near future. The proceeds from the nursery goes to support of expansion plans and education of my siblings.

Loan Proposal

The first loan i purchased potting bags and seeds and some went to labour for assisting persons. there are more seed left for the phase production and would like to use the next loan to facilitate production throughout the year without waiting to sell.
The money will go to labour for person assisting in management at $2 per day and water during dry spells at $50 per 10,000 ltrs tank. One step at a time i grow. Any support is highly appriciated

Feedback

Loan Info

Lenders