February Kenyan Woman of the Month

Age 25

Kendu Bay in Homabay County

I am a wife, mother of a 2-year-old and a businesswoman residing in Kendubay area of Homabay County. I have a business where I sell shoes, kitenge fabric, curtains, African T-shirts as well as thrifted clothing items. I have been running my business since 2015.

What have been the major challenges in your life?

My major challenge was not finding employment after I completed college. This rendered me unable to cater for my needs and those of those who depended on me at the time. After a long period of job hunting, I decided to give business a shot. I chose the fashion business because I have passion for fashion.

I currently stock limited items in my shop. I dream of the day I will have a bigger shop with more items as well as open branches in other nearby towns and get to employ people. In order to stock more, I need to know exactly how much profit I make. From this, what amount goes back to the business and how much to pay myself. I am trying to master this by way of record keeping, which I learnt with the Pangea Network. If I make more money in business, my business will grow and my overall lifestyle will improve.

Firstly, I am proud of the decision I made to start a business and not rely on employment that was not forthcoming. With business, I believe I can scale it up fast and make more profit in the process. Secondly, business allows me time to tend to my young family, especially my toddler daughter. I have developed discipline and commitment towards the two aspects and both parts are doing well so far.

Before Pangea, I was not very confident. Sometimes I feared expressing myself wondering what other people would think. Pangea has taught me the way of life from my rights, to how to develop and take care of myself and even feeding well. It is when I am operating at my optimum that I am able to help others around me. I thank Pangea for instilling confidence in me through the training that we got.

The most important lesson was how to deal with credit sales. My type of business is one where someone can go a whole day without making cash sales. In order to make more sales, I have had to sell on credit to my customers. This way, I have attracted and retained the nearby nursing training college students and the community around who generally have more money every end of the month when their salaries and allowances are paid to them. I have to note down these transactions as they occur and reconcile them with the customer at the end of the month, when they get to pay me.

I am a great singer and do it a lot when I need to relax my mind.