My name is Lucy Wanjiku. I was born 21 years ago at Nakuru town.Our family consists of My mum, two sisters and I. I attended Luci-Amen Primary school and later joined Ole Ntipis girls’ high school in Narok where I sat for my o levels and attained a mean grade of B+ in 2013. In September 2014 I joined Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) where am currently pursuing a clinical medicine course. Am a first year student and I take a part time course.

My mum is a single parent after being separated from my father a long ago. She is the sole bread winner in our family. She operates a whole sale shop in Nakuru town and the earnings from the shop is what we uses for food, housing and other basic needs. My other two sisters are still in school. One being in primary level and the other in secondary school. My two sisters are both in public school since my mum cannot afford to pay the high rates in private schools.

Just recently my family was hit by a financial crisis and my mum was not able to pay me school fees. I toiled a lot to find my way out. At that time I would work for extra hours so as to make more money because I didn't want to miss my end of semester exams. If I failed to pay the fees in time and it meant that I had to refer to the whole semester and I had to pay for the same.

I managed to get the money through my salon and my savings at the local bank and paid my school fees and eventually sat for my end of semester exams in which the results will be released later this month.

I started my business before joining University cause i was so determined to take the course and my mum had a little to pay for my school fees. I was inspired by my mum to do business because its the only way to make a good living.

I started a salon at Juja town cause I was waiting to join University in the same town. I chose this business coz this town its highly populated with the ladies outnumbering men. I have a one full time employee who works for me when am attending my classes. My classes takes two hours each and I attend 3 classes in a week. Am always present at my salon after the classes and full time when am not attending classes and during the holidays. During the holidays we get alot of customers since most of our customers are school going girls. Its also during this time that I employee part time employees since we can't handle all the clients on our own.

If all goes well am planning to open and register a small institution where I will be teaching young girls on how to plait and do other salon work. By doing so I will increase my profit and may be later I will use my savings to fund others.

I have a few chemicals and some braids for sale. The salon attracts female customers for a variety of hairstyles. I have leased a single room at the cost of about 40$ where I run my business. on a good day I make about 15$ and on a poor day about 7$. The business helps to pay my rent and meet other personal commitments.

At times I also help my mum in buying school requirements for my younger siblings and also host them at my place during vacations.

from my first loan, I purchased a drier thus my salon business grew overwhelmingly. I saved money for my yet to be established food kiosk. if funded, together with my savings, I will open a food kiosk near Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology where am currently undertaking a medical course. I chose this business because we (students) prefers fresh fruits and fresh juice for lunch and thus I will be able to attract most of my colleagues. If successfully funded I will purchase a blender, and a variety of fruits to start up my business.