I am hardworking, entrepreneurial and by the grace of God i have never encountered losses in my business. Karatina is a sub-county located within the slopes of Mt. Kenya and is abundant with fruits such as mangoes. As an entrepreneur i sought to establish a business to supply mangoes in the outcasts of Karatina town. I am a student in Karatina University pursuing a degree in Bachelor of Arts (community development) and currently taking evening classes at the main campus Kagochi and therefore during the day i commit myself fully to my business within town and hope that you will fund the expansion of my business. Initially i was selling passion fruits within my home area until recently when i had to relocate to Karatina due to the need to further my education. This therefore forced me to change the type of fruit that i was selling from passion fruits which are abundant in my home county and home area to mangoes which are in plenty within Mathira- East sub-county in Central province. I hope to supply in Nairobi and Thika towns respectively in the years to come. One sack of mangoes goes for 3,500 Kenyan shillings which equals 38.13 US Dollars during the high season of December to April or Early May depending on the rain patterns and wet seasons. I also decided to venture into the mango business because of the availability of market both within and without Mathira- East. The main types of mangoes grown here include Kent, Tommy, Vandeik and indigenous types which thrive well because of the favorable climatic condition of the area. The mode of transport that i use varies from motorcycles, pickup trucks and lorries since immediately you get an order you have to go to the farmers and collect them yourself to avoid the exploitation by middle men and also to avoid losses given the shelf life of mangoes ranges from two to three weeks depending on the climatic conditions at the time of purchase and transport. While a medium-sized, grafted mango fruit fetches 20 shillings and above at the market, even for the large sized mangoes, the brokers offer between 4 shillings and 6 shillings. Sometimes you have to buy the mangoes at that price since you cannot wait for prices to reduce and improve.

The idea of fruit ordering was suggested to me by a close family member back in December 2013. The idea materialized on February 2014 where i began with a small capital of KES 5000 at our home village in Nandi County but later on relocated to Karatina town Nyeri county where i started receiving trainning on September 2014 to date. However i changed the type of fruits that i was selling from passion fruits which were abundant in Nandi county to Mangoes here in Karatina. My business was first funded by M-shwari which is a marketing tool from safaricom and targets the mass Kenyan market and generation Y, which is defined by working consumers aged 18 to 28. Later on i started saving and the idea of Zidisha was also suggested to me by a close friend to increase my loan potential and also to get more funding to expand my business within Karatina. I hope to supply in Nairobi and Thika towns respectively in the years to come. One sack of mangoes goes for 3,500 Kenyan shillings which equals 38.13 US Dollars during the high season of December to April or Early May depending on the rain patterns and wet seasons. The challenge that i have faced in my business is the shelf life of mangoes being short (two to three weeks) and they are cooled as soon as possible to storage temperatue of 13 degree Celcius. A few varieties can withstand storage temperature of 10 degree Celcius which is usually rare and difficult to find. I therfore have to transport my mangoes within five days after purchase to avoid losses. Sometimes the customers don't pay me immediately and therefore forcing me to delay payment to the transporters. This is not good for my business but i do not have a choice due to the fact that my funds are inadequate.

When i get the loan, i am hoping to expand my business by buying more sacks and also escape exploitation by middle men who take advantage of farmers and traders especially during the high seasons whereby farmers harvest more and make less money due to the small shelf life that mangoes have and therefore they have to sell at that price since you cannot store mangoes like maize crop and wait for prices to improve.