MYSELF

I am woman a mother of two children. We live in Nairobi south. I am a business woman dealing with general merchandise depending on season and demand, before the covid 19 I was also doing tailoring, branding and safety. I had established a stable clients for the same and the return was good except sometimes payments take a while to come and hence I have to be involved with something else to complement my income during those dry spell. When the country has received amble rainfall I also sell horticultural produce to supplement my income. I mainly deal with tomatoes and vegetables (spinach and Sukuma) which have high demand and readily available during their season. I have a Bachelor of Art Degree from university of Nairobi. I started my business as a means of survival.

I started my small business with funds borrowed from a women group I belong to. I have also benefited from loan issued by the Kenya Government through my local bank, Co operative bank of Kenya (City hall branch) and Zidisha has also given me a loan thrice. I have a good history of loan repayment; I currently do not have any other loan either with my bank or with my women group. My business makes an income of Ksh 37,000/- per week during high season which is 9 months in a year the remaining three months it makes 13,500/- per week, and I also wish to mention that I do plan well for my money and my business. I do try to use all the good business principals as learnt in college and also in the various seminars I have attended. I am a very responsible person and I hope to grow my business very much and offer employment to some people in future. My biggest challenge has been finance. I would like to take this opportunity to mention that this is my fouth loan. The first one really improved my business not only financially but it increased my focus in business in terms of record keeping and increasing more client. The second loan set me up for a new venture I have always wanted to achieve. i.e tailoring uniforms for school and corporate, I feel most grateful to my lenders I lack words to express my gratitude. My third loan increased my business assets as I bought industrial business machine. It also established my financial challenges for a really long period of time now. The third loan helped me to start free range chicken and now I have a big number and I am selling eggs and the chicken.

I am kindly requesting for a fifth loan this time for expanding the chicken business as we are on lockdown so I spend more time at home. People are only buying mainly food now.

MY BUSINESS / SOURCE OF INCOME

I now have an established business of tailoring , branding and safety but I have always complimented it with sale of tomatoes and vegetables as the clients are the same.

The fact that I deliver and avail myself in their residential areas has enabled me to develop very close relationship with the customer and they do refer their friends and families to me too. I also give them credit facilities especially the ones I have known for some time and have good payment tract record with me. I am able to meet my customers demand in terms of quality and quantity.

I currently want to keep local free range chicken because I am spending a lot of time at home and my normal business income has reduced transically.

My monthly typical expenses for the business are as follows;

Stock 50,000

Transport 2,000

Packages 500

Receipt book 150

Record book 325

Payment voucher 320

Telephone 700

Advertisement 1000

Sales 105,000

Profit 45,000

build another house for the chicken and equip the house with drinkers and feeders.

This will give me more chicken and eggs for sale