MY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
My name is robert cheruiyot mutai. i was born and raise in a remote village name cheplelwa in the expansive rift valley province in Kenya. it is in Bomet county. i went to school at age of five like most of the children from my village. we use to play in rain looking after the cows and helping our parents to run various errands. like many of my young peers of that time we use to enjoy going to school and playing a lot. i also had a very nice dream. in fact i dream t at a very tender age of ten. i already knew what i wanted to be. a radio presenter. it was a childhood dream that would make me fantasize a lot and sometimes even got punished for making noise in class while imitating my favorite broadcasters.
HOW I OVERCAME HARDSHIPS
when i finished my high school studies which was characterized by hardships and school fees challenges, i followed my dream to Nairobi institute of business studies where i pursuit a diploma in journalism, mass communication and public relation. however i still had challenges of school fees and a times i would go to do some manual jobs to raise my school fees. i finally finished and now waiting for my graduation next year. i saw this as a dream come through as my childhood dream had been fulfilled.
HOW I STARTED MY BUSINESS
After my college studies i started looking for job. i went to top media houses in Nairobi and even beyond. i send my resumes to all media houses but none got back to me. i started loosing faith and trust in papers and even contemplated changing my course to something else but i did not have money to go back to college. i started doing manual jobs to keep me going as i had to eat, dress and pay rent. by this time i had stopped depending on my parents who had stared complaining of economic hardships. in the month of June, i applied for a contract job at certain company. i got it and i was given fifty thousand thousand Kenyan shillings after working with them for a bout a month. i went to a friend who advised me to start a simple cyber cafe. i bought three desktop computer, internet router and together with a laptop from a friend of mine, i started a cyber cafe.
UNIQUENESS OF OUR LAND
our land is an interesting community with people who are nice and welcoming. it is our undisputed culture of kalenjin people to be hospitable and nice to visitors. girls use to drop out of school at a tender age to go and get married. however that one has changed and now they all go to school like their male counterparts. Our land also produce very known athletes who have brought glory to our nation Kenya in Olympics and even other field of sports. we are the proud people who drink fermented milk named mursik. every family must have a cow to milk for their children a huge calabash (sotet) that are use to prepare mursik the fermented sour milk.
OUR CHILDREN'S DREAMS
every child in our community wants to be like someone they really admire. they got good dreams of being doctors, pilots, lawyers and even teachers.
MY UNIQUE HOBBY
Whenever am not doing my work at the cyber i like talking a walk and taking photographs using my phone or digital camera. i also use my time to interact with people of all social classes and especially those i can easily reach. i also use my leisure time to write poems and short stories that i really look forward to publish very soon
my cyber cafe business began with a capital of fifty thousand shillings only. using three computers for clients and one as an admin machine. at first the income was so low as not many people knew of my business. however with time people became conversant of it and with good marketing skills and posters around they started coming and my business build up. initially i would make as low as two hundred shillings a day which was too way low as compared to the expenditure i was to pay. as time went by, three months later, i was running out space as clients would come requesting to use my machines. i had only three computers so it was a challenge and i bought two more using the little savings i had kept. this at least reduced my stress of handling the rising number of clients and the services i had to raise the standard. i started getting one to two thousand a day which was a good start for a cyber cafe. i moved to a bigger room which i was required to pay double the amount i was paying in my previous premise. this however could not deter my business as the challenge was expected and also good for my business. i am now looking forward to buying more computers to fill the room and also get sophisticated printers, photocopiers and stationery and also buy more chairs for the clients.
i want to buy a photocopier that is able to produce upto a hundred copies in a minute, this one goes for 700 dollars. i also intent to buy a camera so that my business will involve taking passport photos for people especially student and people send to me by institutions around me. i want to buy two cameras each going for a hundred dollars and use the rest to pay my bills as i save the profit for this month.
upon buying this photocopy machine, i will be able to increase my income by more than twice as i will also have a camera to get other money for my business. in future am planning to buy a video camera so my cyber center will be a real media center for all media purposes. i also intent to go to a child support center in my part of give back to society. i will take the little i have and celebrate with them. my business will also enable me to link up with many people who should be mentored into zidisha.
i am expecting up to 50 dollars a day due to increase in the work and also clients in my place of work.