My name is Ann Wanyika, a mother of one eleven year boy. I was born in deep rural Nyeri – Central Kenya. This area has semi-arid climatic conditions and though almost everybody there is a farmer, there isn’t much in terms of food production to talk about. Most people engage themselves in farming of drought resistant crops such as onions and millet.

I went to school like the rest of the children in the area while helping my parents with their daily chores at home. I cleared my secondary school and the urge to get out of home and venture outside that area got the better of me and I decided to look for a college in Mombasa. Luckily I got an admission to join a hospitality training school in Mombasa which is about 700 kilometers from home – exactly what I wanted.

I joined the college and did a course in hotel management and I secured a job after completing the course. My first job was in a beach hotel in an area called South Coast which is about 20 kilometers south of Mombasa. I loved this job since it is exactly what I was trained to do and I was able to meet people from different nationalities since the hotel was a tourist resort.

Unfortunately there was a slump in tourism activity after a series of terrorist attacks and the hotel closed down due to lack of business. With no where to take my skills, I decided to change my career and with the little money I had saved, I decided to start selling construction materials mostly house hold sanitary equipment such as cisterns and related accessories.

I am also involved in community work as explained on this website. www.g2gchildrenshome.or.ke

I decided to start this business because Mombasa is a big city which is growing at a very rapid pace. This has resulted into an explosion of new buildings which are coming up in every corner of the city. The middle class is also growing fast and most of them are obsessed with owing their own housed. For this reason, the demand for construction and finishing materials is quite high and I decided to swim along this wave so as benefit from the boom.

I run a small store in the backstreets of Mombasa city where I stock sinks and tubes. I have a good number of loyal clients who keep coming back to buy from my shop. The visibility of my store is not very good since I operate in a backstreet and I sometimes forced to sell these items from door to door so as to reach more clients. I am hoping to open another store in the main streets of the city once the business grows to sustain such a store.

I get most of my stock from big stores where I buy at a whole sale price and then retail the items at a profit. My profit margin ranges between 20 – 30%.

I currently make a net profit of about USD300 per month and I use this money to support my boy who is in school and for my own upkeep. This income can grow much more if get reliable and affordable credit. I believe in Zidisha I have found a reliable partner.

Like the previous loans, I will use the money to buy more stock of building materials which are in high demand in my area. I will use USD 350 to buy 50kgs bags of cement and USD 300 to buy an assortment of iron sheets.

I have identified the clients who will buy these items and therefore selling them will be easy. I hope to make a good profit of about 35% from this sale. This will help me grow my business further and also help me in paying for my son's education and other needs.

Thanks.