I Phillip Njuguna am a Kenyan in my early 20's, living in the outskirts of the capital, Nairobi. I am a third born in a family of five and I completed my college studies two years ago with a Diploma in Mass Communication, but things did not turn out as I expected. I mean, securing some form of employment in line with my profession. After unsuccessfully trying to secure employment for a period of over one year, an opportunity presented itself. The opportunity was a stall by the roadside along Thika road, one that was ideal for some range of small scale business. I got it from a person who had been using it, but since he was relocating to the countryside, he had to dispose it since it would be impossible to run the business while away. The former was selling cereals at the stall, but I had a different business idea. From the rare wages I got from working at construction sites, I was able to raise the fee of $95, (about ksh 8,000), and with that I got the full rights to use the stall.

I settled to do second hand ladies' clothes, after conducting some survey. It was also ideal since I needed only a little amount to get started.

After acquisition of the stall and settling for the idea of selling second hand ladies' clothes, the next hurdle was to stock the business. I had to seek some manual job at a construction site so as to be able to raise some amount to stock my business. I was lucky enough since in three weeks' time I had raised $50 (ksh 4000), from which I used $12 to renovate the stall, and then I used $30 to go to the main second hand market in Nairobi, (Gikomba), where I got 20 pieces of dresses, and finally I had somewhere to report to daily and hope that customers will come by.

It is now six months since I started the business and although initially I was making upto zero sales in a day, I used what I got on a good day to build my stock by ploughing back the profits. One of the major selling point is that some clothes require some little face-lift which costs $ 0.25 and BOOM! They fetch an 80% profit.

Currently the stock has a market value of about $400, without forgetting that I've included a variety of clothes, ie; sweaters, skirts etc.

However, I must accept that one of the biggest challenges I have encountered is that I have to look for a cart (popularly known as a mkokoteni) to transport the clothes to and from a store that is located a few klometers away from the stall. This is because the stall is a temporary structure that doesn't guarantee the needed security for my stock. I therefore incur $2 every day, that is charged by the cart operators to transport the bulky stock. I further have to part with $1 as storage fee to the owner of the premises where the stock is stored overnight.

Once I succeed to secure a loan from zidisha, I am going to top up the ammount, and acquire a cart (popularly known as mkokoteni), which costs about $180, and will be used as the means of transporting the bulky clothes load to and from the store, and the stall. I will personally pull the cart and that means I will have managed to save $2 daily, which is incurred as transportation costs.

The cart will also help me diversify my income channels since I can as well offer transport to fellow business people who operate in temporary stalls, and who just like me have to seek for storage services. I will offer the transport service at a cost lower than the prevailing one. That is surely going to win me some clients, as well as assisting them cut on costs too, and that translates to more income for me.

On top of that, during the day I can hire the cart out and that also means more income for me.

I have done my calculations well and I believe I can't be wrong on this one, I only need to go for it.

Cutting the costs and growing my business is my biggest dream as of now, and I am certain I will service my loan on time and without failing, as I look forward to acquiring some permanent premises to operate from in future.