Vegetables,fruits and blender for my grocery kiosk

Desmond

Bungoma, Kenya

14% repaid

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How it Works

Entrepreneur

Name

Desmond

Member since

March 2015

On-time repayments

97 installments • 4%

About Me

I grew up in a suburbs of Bungoma, Western Kenya. I went to Khaoya primary school in 1998. By then my parents had very little earnings from tailoring. It was even heard to pay my school fees. Though young, I could pick maize remains from harvested lands and sell to get some money to pay my fees. It was then that I new how to sell items.later I begun to buy and sell sugarcane during holidays and weekends. I worked hard, passed my exams and joined secondary school. It was hard to raise fees but selling sugar cane helped source some money. A friend of mine used to help me especially when i was at school. later on in 2012 after completing secondary school, I started venturing in farming; vegetables and fruits. I faced many challenges such as diseases since I had no experience in fruit and vegetable farming. my dad advised me to consult the District Agricultural Officer for more advice on farming techniques and what measures to take to curb disease infections on vegetables and fruits. I followed the advice which included keen observation to identify pests before they multiplied. I harvested passion fruits worth $ 300 and indigenous vegetables worth $150. From then the subsequent yields have been good and i do sell my products my self on the market, though I also sale to other traders to retail.
I now have a Kiosk for vegetables, fruits and fresh juice. from the amount i raised, I bought a juice blender that helps me in preparing juice for my customers.
The unique thing about my culture is people like chicken and corn. I like researching browsing the internet as i learn a lot about farming and business by reading articles.

My Business

At the moment my products include Indigenous vegetables, cabbage, kale, fruits; especially passion and fruit juice. I also sale tomatoes, onions and cucumber. I plan to expand my business into a bigger grocery by December 2015.
These products are in demand in our area because sellers are less. most of them are not grown within Bungoma but are bought from Chwele market, which is far. I chose this kind of business because I am passionate about vegetables and fruits, and it is also a viable business because of demand in our area. the high demand arises especially from many University students from Kibabii University, among other institutions. vegetables are consumed daily, because people must eat. Costs include land preparation, seeds,, pest control, labor, transport expenses and rent for the kiosk. I spend averagely $ 200 and earn averagely $555 in 6 months, a profit therefore of about $350. I use my profits in reinvesting to improve my business, and also help in paying school fees for my younger sister. I save very little for emergencies such as buying pesticides and paying for business license to the municipal council.

Loan Proposal

I will buy a blender to help increase the amount of fruit juice for my customers. The blender costs $65. the demand for fresh juice has greatly gone up as the nearby institutions admit more students. they prefer buying fresh juice rather than the processed ones due to their health benefits. the Blender will help also in reducing loses that arise from spoilage of fruits especially when they stay for long.
I will use $12 to buy a knapsack sprayer so that i cut down on costs of hiring one. this will also help me to spray my fruits and vegetables on time and without interruption.
I will spend about $ 15 to buy a cooler. this will help me in keeping the juice under low temperatures so that it does not go bad. It will help me earn more profit by preventing losses that arise from spoilage of juice since i do not have a refrigerator.
I will spend about $ 5 to pay the person who sells ice cubes to me.the ice helps in cooling the juice in the cooler.