My name is Tito Maloba Matete, 40 years of age, married with one child (I just lost my second born early this year). I was born in a family of 9 children and my parents were peasant farmers. We grew up in very difficult conditions and sometimes could miss school to do manual jobs to earn a living. I managed to finish my primary and secondary school by the help of well wishers. After my O' level, I managed to score a good grade which enabled me to get a government grant to study in the university.

Due to the high unemployment rate in Kenya, I have had mixed fortunes in securing employment. Currently, I am employed as a Human Resource Officer with a distribution company in Nairobi. The salary offered is not enough to cater for all my bills and other expenditures. That is why I have to look for alternative sources of income to supplement my salary. I regret that I was not able to give quality medical care to my child due to the low salary.

At my place of work, there are over 300 employees working at the premises which is located approximately one kilometre away from the main business centre. We all depend on food vendors to get meals as the company does not offer meals. I realized that the vendors do not adhere to strict hygienic conditions which is a threat to the workers' health. This prompted me to start supplying food to my work colleagues on request. Once a colleague gives me an order of the food he/she wants, I prepare the food and carry to the place of work and distribute to all that had ordered.

When I am not at work, I am either at the swimming pool or watching a soccer game, especially the English Premier league - My favourite EPL team is Arsenal.

Zidisha has helped me to have a second income through the previous two loans where I was able to expand my food business. I bought a food warmer with the first loan and later bought cutlery with the second loan. This business is now helping me to supplement my salary. I am happy to say that the business is now stable and able to support itself.

Given that there is no room for expansion for my current business, I decided to venture into Bee farming. Bee Keeping project does not require a lot of inputs and has less supervision. The only inputs that are required are the beehives and protective clothing.

I have an idle land about 100 km away from the main City-Nairobi. From the previous loan (third loan) I was able to buy four beehives which I installed in the farm. So far three of them have been occupied with bees and only one i remaining. I know it would not be long for it to be also occupied with bees. Harvesting is expected to start from the month of November/December. Thereafter, harvesting can be done at an interval of 2 to 3 months. One harvest will give 10 to 12kg of honey per hive. The harvested honey will then be sold back to the same company for proper packaging.

Dear lenders,

I am indeed happy with Zidisha lenders for being there during time of need. In my previous loan, I purchased 4 beehives that i installed in my rural farm which is about 100 kilometers from the main city (Nairobi). I would like to buy 5 additional beehives to add to the existing four beehives. This will bring the total number of beehives to 9. The cost of one beehive is Ksh.8,500 ($85). Therefore, the total cost will be Ksh. 42,500($425).

When harvested, one beehive is expected to produce 12kg of honey. Expected total harvested when fully operational will be 108kgs. 1 kg of honey sales at Ksh.600 ($6) giving a total of Ksh64,800 ($648). These returns will gradually starting from the months of November/December.

Repayment for this loan will still come from my proceeds from the food business and partly from salary.

This venture will be beneficial in two ways, an added income and a source of honey, which is medicinal. I will also be hiring a person especially during harvesting and thus provide temporary employment to the unemployed.