Having grown up in the central part of Kenya in a family of 8, farming was the major activity at home hence at a tender age I was introduced to cultivating and looking after the cattle after school and during holidays which was an interesting thing to do since I could join up with other kids to play round games in the field and also hunt. As a young girl I always aspired to be a graduate when I grew up but the dream was crashed when I finished school and there was insufficient resources to go to college hence I had to search for jobs to try and raise cash to go back to school but due to low wages, I used to live hand to mouth for about three years when a well wisher identified me as someone who was not contented with her the then current lifestyle and status. The old woman saw me to campus.

I graduated from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology with a bachelor’s degree in IT in the year 2012. This I must say was a great stepping stone in my life and I was so grateful to God for allowing me a chance to go for higher learning. Being one of the few graduates in the village, I am always passionate about empowering young people in the community and for that reason after graduating I volunteered for one year to work with young girls who are finishing high school in Butere community; Western Kenya to mentor them socially, intellectually and spiritually.

I have always wanted to be my own boss and with the help of my entrepreneurship skills and being an outspoken person, I boldly ventured into urban farming last year whereby I am doing poultry farming, vegetables and rabbit keeping with the support of my family.

I love baking and pastry, freelancing and interior design. I look forward to being a successful business woman and a home maker some day.

My farming business is approximately 2 years now. I begun with poultry farming; Broiler keeping to be precise and when i realized it was successful, i decided to expand it by selling the idea to my parents who boosted the business by increasing the stock. Today i rear a variety of chickens that is broilers, layers and indigenous chicken. I recently ventured into rabbit rearing since there is a ready market in the supermarkets and 5-star hotels in Kenya. Eating healthy with chemical-free vegetables led me to begin cultivating Spinach and kale whose demand is high locally where very few people in the urban area do farming. Finally i recently began freelancing in order to advance in the area of my career that is Information and Technology.

I chose farming since with foods you can never go wrong.

I have invested $ 1,744 in my business. My monthly income is $291 which i generate from vegetables and 100 broiler chickens. I expect to leap my first income from my 21/2 months;200 chicken layers in March when they will start laying and i expect to generate $523 monthly and $116 from rabbits quarterly. I am expecting my first pay of $50 from freelancing in two weeks time. My expenses go up to $174 and I remain with a surplus of $117 which i reinvest into the business.

If i successfully qualify for a loan, i am going to increase the number of birds up to 1,000 which is my target for the next 12 months. This will allow me a gross profit of up to $ 105 daily after selling 30 tray of eggs. Meanwhile with the first loan I will increase the number of birds by buying 3 months old;20 layers chickens at $4 each adding up to a total of $81 and the remaining $22 I will top up buying of feeds whereby a 70kg growers mash goes for $32 and 200-250 pullets consume a 70kg bag within 7 days.

This kind of empowerment will allow me a chance to go back to the community and empower young people in becoming financially independent by venturing into entrepreneurship. i look forward to your positive response.

NB: Conversion rate $1: Ksh 86.

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My businesses both Mpesa and chicken farming have grown troumendously with a turnover of Ksh. 200,000/- . I also got an opportunity to practice my career in the IT profession from March 2016 when i got a job with an income of Ksh. 40,000/- per month.

This particular loan I will use it to build a two roomed house and a toilet on a piece of land that I bought with my previous loan. I am planning to use machine cut stones which are readily available from a nearby quarry, then use 32 gauge iron sheets.

Breakdown of the materials:-

1. 4 lorries stones-@14000 each=56,000/-

2. 3tonnes sand-@7000 each=21,000/-

3. 20 bags of Cement-@630 each=12,600/-

4. 12 J9 wire-@800=9,600/-

5. 1,000 liters water-@20 per 20liters=1,000/-

6. 20 32gauge iron sheets-@600 each=12,000/-

7. Nails@700/-

9. 16 Roofing timber-@100 each=1,600/-

10. 3 iron windows @4,000=12,000/-

11. 3 doors-@ 5000 each=15,000/-

12. Septic tank plus toilet accessories@15,000/-

13. 10 days Labour fee@2000 each day=20,000/-

14. Electricity installation and accessories-@35,000/-

15. Water installation and accessories @15,000/-

16. Plastering @6,000/-

17. Painting@8,500/-

Total cost of building=Ksh. 241,000/-

With a loan of 213,395/- and 100,000/- savings I will be able to complete a two roomed house and a toilet and use part of my savings for material transportation and putting up a fence and a gate.