Business successes in the Kibera

Making soap products

Project - Detergent Production

This is the second of our group projects. The project was rolled out in November 2010 involving thirteen members from Kadamuna SHG. The volunteering members for this project are predominantly caregivers to children in education and guardianship. The group received training on how to make a multipurpose detergent and were assisted to obtain equipment and helped with the initial marketing.

During the month of April the group was able to sell 240 litres of soap with the proceeds being ploughed back into the project. At the moment 100 litres remain with members aggressively looking for new customers. The Kadamuna group has continued to increase soap products varying in colour and smell. During the month of June they have secured two more long term customers for their products in Kawangware (neighbours to Kibera along the Ngong road). One is a church and the other one is a privately owned school. Their general progress has been good despite the marketing challenges.

Viewing the clothes

Mary Aremo

Mary is a beneficiary of the business support scheme and is the caregiver to Caroline Atieno & Benta Anyango who are in the KIN children programme. Mary is a mother of two and takes care of another five orphans. They all live in a single room in Kisumu Ndogo area of Kibera. Her main challenge is finding space and bedding materials such as mattresses. One of the orphans under her care, called Vivian, is HIV/ AIDS positive and needs special care since her health is deteriorating.

Mary started her business in 1987 and it has been very useful in helping her support her family. Her business is tailoring / dressmaking. She makes school uniforms and various clothes for ladies. She has received two loans from KIN business support and has already started repaying her recent loan of Ksh. 25,000 very well. Her business has been doing well and at the moment she has four sewing machines which she uses to train young people on the course. The picture shows some of the dresses and other clothes she makes.

Mary appreciates the relationship of her business with the KIN/ Riziki business support scheme due to a number of benefits that she has seen. One of them is the mentorship programme that has enabled her to begin training young people in tailoring. Through the KIN business mentorship Mary provides training which gives her a source of income and an opportunity to serve and help the youth in her neighbourhood. She is also grateful for the capital injection through which she has been able to stock and buy sewing machines.

The grocery business

Jane Ndolo

Jane is a mother of two children, Linah Wayua aged 3 years a beneficiary of the KIN guardianship programme and Shadrack Munyao aged 9 years who is on the KIN waiting list. Jane lives with her husband and their two children in Kibera Kambimuru village. She lives in a single room and runs her business from the doorstep. The husband is unemployed and depends on intermittent casual jobs in the neighbourhood as they come along.

Jane is one of the members that has been consistent in the business support scheme. She completed repayment of her first loan in December 2010 of Ksh. 7500. It took a long time to repay her loan due to her medical condition that began with mild respiratory infection and was later diagnosed as asthma.

However Jane is very hardworking, she initially operated a water kiosk but was pushed out of business by the high cost of operation and maintenance. Currently she runs a green grocery and charcoal kiosk at her doorstep. She began from a very humble situation with minimal resources but has been able to grow the business and now she is able to sell charcoal sacks wholesale. She is currently servicing her second loan of Ksh 20,000. The photo shows Jane chopping vegetables in preparation for evening sales. She is proud to display the stock as she explains that were it not for the KIN business loan, she would not have much to sell since her husband has not been able to get a job in recent weeks. Jane explains that having injected Ksh. 20,000 in her grocery and charcoal business she can make sales of up to Ksh 1,600 daily with approximately Ksh 500 being profit. She commends the Scheme training programmes saying that it enables her to record all sales and expenditure. The programme has taught her to allocate her income accordingly for household expenditure, savings and re-investment. To her that is the most exciting benefit she derives from Kadamuna group and the Kin business scheme.

Sweet potatoes

Eunice Njeri

Eunice is married to Evans Gichimo who is a casual labourer and has three children namely Naomi Wanjiku in class six, Emanuel Mushedu in class 3, Tabitha Wambui in nursery school.

She has specialized in the business of selling sweet potatoes. She is very active and goes to get her stock at 5 a.m 15kms away. She then attends house chores from 10.00 a.m - 2.00p.m. She begins to sell the sweet potatoes around this time since her customers are normally people returning into the slums after working in various parts of Nairobi mainly as casual labourers and watchmen. She started this business after her business of cereals was looted during post election violence. The capital acquired as loan from Kin MEDs helped her buy more stock which is helping her satisfy her clients who have increased significantly since she began the business. At the moment she says she buys a bag which weighs around 100kg at ksh 4,500 wholesale price. This she says earns her a profit of between ksh 1,500-2,000. It takes her between one to two days to sell one bag. The capital injection she received from KIN helped her increase her stock and consequently profits. She counts achievements from the profits. One is that she has leased an acre of land in a rural area where she is planning to plant wheat. The profits have as well improved her life and she is now able to provide to her family need which includes school fees, house rents among others. She is waiting to receive ksh 15,000 from KIN MEDs to help her buy the stock in bulk which is more economical. Her next project is to save the profits and purchase a small piece of land in the rural areas. The support extended to her through the small loans has enlarged her scope and placed her on course of transformation from the current life in the slums to a better place out there.

Selling clothes

Grace Kabura

Grace is married with 5 children, 7 grandchildren. She and the family were adversely affected by the post election violence. She sells water at the backyard of her house. She also operates small rental houses in Kibera. But the effects of post election left her in a desperate situation after destruction of her property. She was identified and benefited from KIN MEDs. She began the business of selling clothes and other assorted goods including stationery to diversify her business. Stationery picked up very well. She has concentrated on them. She says “this business is very good. I am making a sale of at least ksh1, 000 per day. I have good records as you trained us. As you can see, I sell different types of stationery which include exercise books, pens, pencils, manila papers, old newspapers and magazines, cash sale receipt books among other.” She has repaid the first small loan and has now applied KSHs. 20,000 which she intends to use to expand the business by buying text books. Her plan is to build this business up, use the proceeds she gets to buy a small piece of land in central province where she will go and settle. She says, ‘I want to buy a place where I will retire peacefully away from life challenges in Kibera. I am now elderly and cannot live in Kibera all my days. As soon as I manage to buy a place I will leave. I can be managing this business from there if need be’. She is 67 years and wants to leave Kibera and rest peacefully somewhere else.

Writing a receipt

Levy Shikami

Levy is the father to Purity Kalumaba, Allan Baraza and Melvin Akutuya. He was born in 1972 in Kakamega, he studied until form four in Makhokho secondary school. He got employed by Tittles Fastness where he was moulding metal, he after sometime quit because of less payment and transport expenses. He has since been involved in the business of refuse collection which goes by the name Nairobi Metropolitan Bins and Services. The business is not as big but it demonstrates his ambitions. His clients are drawn from well to do estates next to the Kibera slums namely Ayany and Olympic. He has employed a young man with whom he goes collecting the refuse. A hired lorry in return carries the garbage to the dumping sight. He received ksh 5,000 from KIN MEDs which he is repaying at the moment. He bought polythene bags which he distributes to his clients to put the garbage. In return, those clients pay him ksh 250 per month. His plan is to extend his business to Jamhuri estate. He is making significant profits out of which he has leased a small shamba in a rural area where he is planting Maize and beans. His hope is that the business will grow enough to generate enough to buy a piece of land where he can settle with his children.

Preparing to start selling

Christine Anyona

Christine Anyona was born in 1968. Her husband passed on in 1989. She is the caregiver of Duncan Netia. Life has not been easy for her and thus to survive she is involved in petty trading in Kibera. Specifically she hawks traditional vegetables in Kibera slums. She gets them 15kms away from Kibera i.e at Wakulima market after the city centre. She wakes up at 5.00 A.M to be in the market slightly before 6.00 a.m. For her, the capital she received came as a blessing. Initially, she was buying her stock at a smaller quantity. When she got the capital, she managed to increase the quantity and the variety of these traditional vegetables. At least now her profit margin has increased. She says in a day she earns between ksh 150-200 from a ksh 100. For her, this is a blessing because it helps her pay house rent and provide to her children’s needs. It is all she has as a source of livelihood for her and her children. Her plan is to repay five thousand shillings and borrow a significant amount to buy dry grains, preserve them and sell in January 2010 which will give her substantial returns.

KIN may be found on the Charities

Commission site at Kibera In Need

Charity Registration No.   1117658