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After his graduation from Nairobi Aviation Collage, Dominic Jisemba tried looking for a job on his line of career but failed to secure one.

He later chanced to be employed by a security firm which paid him Sh41,000 for a job he was posted out of the country, to be specific, in Qatar.

However, given he did not have an alternative, he took up the job just for income though his heart was not fully dedicated.

After reports about some ills some employers from Middle East countries met on their employees, Jisemba’s family got concerned about him and advised him to come back home.

Jobless again, a friend of his advised him to try his hand in sugarcane juice making, that was way back in 2017.

“I, therefore, decided to invest Sh87,000 part of my savings to buy a machine at Sh80,000, Sh3,000 for raw material; the sugarcane, some jinja at Sh800, lemon at Sh500 and juice serving plastic cups at Sh500,” said Jisemba.

At the start, he did not have an official operation point or location, so he kept moving from place to place looking for where he could make good sales.

When he finally found a place to settle at Umoja estate, he decided to employ some four workers to help him with cleaning the sugarcane and serving customers.

“I started by paying each of them Sh500 a day and as the business picked up, I doubled their salary to Sh1,000 a day,” he said.

Today, the young entrepreneur has over five staff at his juice parlour whom they work together as a team.

From 70 pieces of sugarcane which he buys at Sh20-30 each, Jisemba produces 700 glasses of juice. He sells a 200ml glass of juice at Sh50 while a 500ml glass cost Sh100.

From this, he says, he can make up to Sh10,000 net profit a day after sorting out his employees and other expenses.

“This is a venture I was not sure about from the beginning but my leap of faith has so far yielded fruits and I can now pay my bills and cater for my other bills not to talk of great savings and doing what I love in a more secure environment; home,” said Jisemba.

To be able to meet his daily target, he ensures he wakes up early, grinds the sugarcane and extract the nutritious juice for his ever-coming customers.

According to Joaquim Mauricio Duarte, a scientist, on the health benefits of sugar, a natural compound found in sugarcane juice can reduce the growth of human cancer cells hence making it one of the most sought-after fresh juice today.

Jisemba’s customers mainly come from those who call in daily and referrals by usual customers. He also targets social gatherings, a rich customer trap, now affected due to COVID 19 pandemic.

“Businesses do experience challenges and this is our time of facing such a big test which I hope will pass behind us very soon,” said the Umoja based entrepreneur.

Other than the sugarcane juice business, Jisemba also markets grill pans and duster mops for supplementary income.

He now sees a future of improved business as he plans to buy more machines, improve production and employ more other people.

 

Nairobi city has one main industrial area located to the south-east of the central business district. However, there are also other industrial areas located in Kahawa, Kasarani, Ruaraka and Dandora not to mention those in the neighbouring places such as Machakos, Kajiado and Kiambu.

Even though these areas majorly have manufacturing and service industries that employ many people, not everyone ends up working in these industries as there are scarce opportunities that are also very competitive.

If you have ever wanted to work in the industrial areas but unsuccessful to secure employment or you just want to start something of your own which will draw you some income on a daily basis, then you can consider the following ideas:

Kibandaski restaurant

A majority of individuals working in industrial areas are casual labourers paid between Sh15,000 and Sh35,000 a month meaning their earnings per day ranges from Sh500-1,000 while some get as low as Sh300 a day depending on the job.

With this small amount of money and the nature of work which is always heavy-duty, these people do not have time for classy foods but just a decent and well-prepared meal is okay.

Indeed, they will need to eat well and save for other needs and this is where your local hotel popularly known by many Nairobian residents as kibandaski will be of mutual benefit. 

With kibandaski, you will not need to necessarily rent some room but just a small temporary shade or structure which can cost you Sh2,000-5,000 to put up and which will keep your food safe, offer you some space to cook and serve your customers.

You will also need to part with Sh1,500 as a license fee for the local authorities, some Sh10,000 for supplies such as charcoal, grocery, cooking oil, rice, sugar and flour among others just for a start assuming you have the equipment.

You can therefore make breakfast and lunch meals with foods such as porridge/tea + mandazi/chapati for breakfast and ugali + veges/fried eggs/beans/omena(dagaa)/fish/beef, chapati + dengu/beans/beef, githeri and rice + beans for lunch.

For the breakfast meal, your prices can be Sh5 for mandazi, Sh10 for black tea and Sh20 for white tea, Sh10 chapati while for lunch meals your prices can range fromSh50-100 depending on the food ordered. 

This is generally affordable for a wide range of people working in the industrial areas something which has made kibandaski food a darling for many city dwellers who are faced with tough economic times.

Hawking fruits

Moving a variety of fruits in the industrial area is also another viable business whereby you only need a cart (mkokoteni) which you can hire at Sh100 a day and Sh500 to buy some fruits such as oranges which you can sell Sh5 or Sh10 each, watermelon, pawpaw and pineapple which you can cut in sizes and sell at Sh10 or Sh20 a piece.

In fact, there is a crop of women in town who have recently mastered the art of doing this business and they are making a kill. Very early in the morning, you will see them with buckets or troughs getting to Nairobi’s Marikiti Market to buy these fruits.

For watermelon, pawpaw and pineapple they buy already cut pieces at Sh10 each. Depending on the size of the transparent or clear buckets, they carry 30-50 pieces. Others with troughs opt for bananas, avocadoes and oranges.

They then start moving the fruits in jua kali areas, garages and construction sites selling a piece at Sh20 each for watermelon, pawpaw and pineapple and by noon they shall have made doubled their buying price.

Kiosk

If you cannot move with fruits, then a small booth of M-Pesa where you can also sell some small items such as credit cards, snarks, bottled drinking water, soft drinks such as soda and juices can really be a good business in these areas. You can also sell some fruits especially bananas.

You do not need a permanent structure, just a temporary one is enough as you hustle for a place to store your items at night. 

Some companies which have bigger operation space with many people working therein, also do offer some space within their premises for people who approach them with such a business idea.

Now you know, you can move and make your decisions.

With the worldwide breakout of the COVID 19 virus posing serious negative impacts to economies of various countries globally, there is a need for the present-day entrepreneurs in Kenya to consider smart ways of doing business and grow their income even as we wait for the unforeseeable future of the deadly disease.

One of these smart ways is going online in terms of marketing and selling of their goods and services which of course will adhere to the social distancing and cashless transfers among other recommendations by the government to limit the spread of the virus.

Though it has its various challenges just like any other means of doing business in the country, e-commerce is presenting a bright future for those who are keen to build their brands and grow their revenues.

According to a recent report by financial analysts at Citibank, it was estimated that Kenya’s e-commerce market could be worth Sh70 billion in the near term, Sh120 billion in the medium term and Sh500 billion in the long-term. 

In addition, today there are various planforms ready to sponsor new entrants in the online business. One such is Gray Matters Capital (GMS), a calibrator accelerator program that focuses on funding various enterprises to enable them to actualize and bring e-commerce front to market.

In the past, newcomers into the market had no such platforms and had a higher overhead cost. A high consideration was given to monthly payments such as rental space, electricity, water, and security. 

For startups, there was less room for error when it comes to their initial financial investment because funding could dry up very quickly if one was not careful. 

Other than monthly expenses, location also plays a vital role in the success or demise of the business.  Picking a poor location could hurt a business no matter how your products and pricing were. 

At your location, you wouldn’t have control over what happens around your store. A competitor could open next door and crush your business or the up-keep and safety of the area would deteriorate keeping customers away from your shop.

In Kenya, according to a recent e-commerce report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, it was estimated that the number of online shoppers had doubled to 2.61 million from 2014 to 2017. 

With the country having more than 47.6 million active mobile money accounts, accessed through more than 200,000 agents, there has been the ease in making payment indicating online shopping is not slowing down anytime soon.

Trade has been revolutionized by the online presence and newcomers have managed to avoid the constraints of having a physical store but online fronts also bear challenges. 

To begin with, creating an online presence such as a website, one will need to find the right service provider and with it comes a cost. 

A decent website build may cost between Sh30,000 to more than Sh100,000, its maintenance would significantly cost more. 

The skills required to create digital content, grow your audience and convert them into customers may require the appointment of a digital marketer hence stretching your marketing budget if any. 

One will also be required to provide a variety of ways to make payments because customers want a choice.

A recent report by KPMG of seven Sub-Saharan countries including Kenya indicates that e-commerce makes up one to three per cent of GDP, and is predicted to make up only 10 per cent of total retail sales in key markets by 2025. 

This gap between online presence and customer, conversion highlights the need to consolidate the seller’s in-store and online platform to create a complete customer experience and generate more revenue.

One of the reasons why online shopping is still lagging behind is because a majority of customers do not trust online shopping sites, this is according to a recent GeoPoll survey conducted in five African countries; Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, South Africa and Ghana on online shopping. 

In Kenya, trust was the highest reason at 33 per cent followed by shipping costs at 19 per cent and payment methods not being supported at 11 per cent.

It follows therefore that, those business entrepreneurs who would consider e-commerce stand a high chance of benefiting now and going into the future.

Since its debut in 2008 in the US when the country’s labour market lost over 8.4 million jobs, the mobile restaurant business has continued gaining momentum the world over as a cheap way of running an eatery without necessarily having to cater for the high physical location costs.

The business is also known as the mobile food truck business is now gaining ground in Kenya especially in Nairobi where residents are increasingly preferring food deliveries closer to their work stations or homes.

Assuming the requirements to start this business are almost the same as any other restaurant with a specific location such as Sh120,000 equipment costs and Sh50,000 for licenses (Single business permit, food and hygiene license and food handler’s certificate), the mobile aspect makes it a bit different.

Here, one will need a truck, a large vehicle with a kitchen to make and serve food. The truck should therefore be designed in a way it makes operations easy and just before you consider this lucrative business, here are some factors to consider.

 

Setup costs

This includes one-time costs and costs that can vary by location because, for instance, costs for setting a mobile eatery at the CBD will certainly vary from any other place in Nairobi.

But, focusing on truck design first which is a one-time thing, you can start simple in a small bicycle or motorcycle with an extended cart.

This, according to Marf Limited, a company that designs and fabricates mobile restaurant trucks, comes with an approximate budget of Sh200,000 cost of the truck itself with installed solar power for a small refrigerator, fitted fryer and grill and a gas cooker.

However, this might not be enough as the image which is key should be achieved by ensuring top-notch hygiene by ensuring food preparation surfaces are made of stainless steel.

Nevertheless, as the business picks, one may see the need for expanding into larger trucks with bigger space to accommodate the increasing number of customers.

This can mean moving to a food truck, food trailer and food cart which comes with a budget of between Sh200k and Sh1.5M fabrication costs.

You can also opt for a locally sourced second-hand truck or pick-up due to ease of spares access for fabrication which can cost less depending on your menu and the size of the truck or pick-up for the kitchen space and equipment.

Remember, importing a small truck can cost up to Sh1.8M and you still have to part with clearance costs. Yes, importation is always the bottleneck as the customs is not always a walk-in-walk-out.

Future of mobile restaurant business

According to the 2016 Kenya Food Market Report (Restaurant in Kenya), the restaurant business in Kenya has been growing rapidly over the last couple of years and the mobile food truck business is no exception.

Indeed, investors in the food industry are slowly setting up mobile kitchens using food trucks to reach more customers.

Munchies, a product of Mobile Foods of Kenya Ltd, is one such mobile food restaurants in Nairobi which started in 2017 and kicked off operations in January 2018.

Today, the restaurant has employed seven young people who entirely run the business as well as providing skills training.

World over, the industry continues to grow. For instance, it is expected to close in on $1 billion dollars in annual revenues within the United States alone.

There are many small businesses that one can start using a small capital in Kenya especially in Nairobi and make it a booming venture with time.

One of them is cooking and selling mandazi either along the busy streets of the city, at bus stations or at a strategic location in residential areas.

Unless you want to set up a fairly big business, a small mandazi business do not need a license from the city council, instead, with just Sh1,000 capital you can make up to Sh1,500 a day and expand with time.

However, just before letting all systems go, you need one more thing- studying your prospective customer’s way of life and purchasing power.

On normal weekdays, Nairobians like waking up early to prepare for work and escape traffic jams which see them spend much on fare hence they will be taking their breakfast early or passing by at your cooking point to buy.

In this, you need to wake up earlier than them by around 4:00 am or at latest 5:00 am to begin operations and be able to catch with them.

Most mandazi sold in Nairobi goes for Sh5 or at most Sh10 and studying your customers’ purchasing power will help you know the quantity and quality of the product you need to make for fair pricing.

When all these is done, you may start just by using some of your kitchen utensils and equipment which you can set in an open space.

Remember to start small on the first day if it is the first time or a new location. This will give you time to get used to the customers.

With the Sh1,000 capital, you need baking flour, salt, sugar and cooking oil.

For a start, a 2kg of wheat flour that goes for about Sh130, 0.5kg cooking fat of about Sh110 and other small ingredients such as sugar, baking powder and salt which can cost at most Sh100 are necessary.

A packet of 2kg wheat flour can produce over 50 mandazi depending on the size and sell at between Sh5 and Sh10 each. This will earn you Sh250-500 just from one packet or Sh1,250-2,500 from five packets.

It is also important to be thoughtful. Because it is always take-away foodstuff, you may need to arm yourself with some packaging materials such as the used flour packets which sometimes are discarded to use as wrap up materials.

You can also identify some places nearby such as construction and juakali sites where you can sell your mandazi and ensure the whole stock is sold so that you begin with fresh ones the following day.

Nairobians like fresh but cheap food, remember.

Do not stick there, move to 15-20 packets a day depending on the demand and with time you can start serving tea before expanding to cooking some chapatis served with beans or green grams (dengu).

Yes, this is how Mary Wanjiku,38, started her Silger Enterprises, a cake bakery business in Nakuru Town.

After completing her course in food and catering in 2008 but failed to get a job, her mother gave her some Sh1,000 while a friend helped with a modern energy saver jiko.

After buying a pan and a frying spoon she started making mandazi and hawking.

Soon the business became overcrowded and much competition threatened her existence. This is the time she shifted to baking cakes something which is more viable in the area and more earning.

Today, she has employed over 10 youth who help her in her bakery enterprise. “It is good to start from somewhere and be creative along or else you can find yourself out of business in a short while,” advises Wanjiku.

Just like any other business, agribusiness also requires a proper calculation of opportunities and profits associated with any commercial farming venture.

In demands a good understanding of market demand, a plan and a budget, record keeping, cash flow and credit management and measuring the performance of the business from time to time among others.

This is what many young people entering into market-oriented farming do not seem to understand. Most of them, upon interacting with a captivating story in the media, jump into farming with high expectation not knowing the high risks associated with agribusiness and how to manage them.

 

However, for these two brothers, Collins Adika ,35, and Charles Otieno ,34, who are fish farmers in Siaya County, their first move in the venture was to understand what would give them an advantage over their peers. 

The duo who are currently running a 70,000-capacity fish hatchery at Rabango area in the county are cashing in the increasing number of high yielding cage fishing technology in Lake Victoria to provide ready fingerlings to farmers and grow their income.

“The advantage we have is the increasing uptake of cage fishing in Lake Victoria and fish ponds that different CBOs have dug in the area pushing the demand for fingerlings,” said Otieno.

A survey by the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Institute (Kemfri) in the five riparian counties of Migori, Siaya, Kisumu, Busia and Homa Bay showed that the number of fishing cages in the country’s largest freshwater lake had jumped to about 3,696 by last year from 1,663 in 2016 — a 122 percent increase, with more such facilities being added by investors this year.

Siaya had 2,989 fishing cages by 2017, from 383 previously, a 680 percent jump. It is trailed distantly by Homa Bay with 479 fishing cages, Migori (23), Busia (120) and Kisumu (85).

The young brothers had acquired some four ponds measuring 80 by 40 metres from an agro-entrepreneur in the area who had abandoned them to look for greener pastures in the US.

They, therefore, negotiated with him after approaching the owner of the three acres of land where the ponds were constructed.

“When we came from Kampala, Uganda in May this year where our partnership in fish farming with some Ugandans had ended, we found the ponds in a bad situation due to poor management by the farmhands who were left there,” said Otieno.

The duo had to spend two months, June and July to renovate the ponds and divided the huge ponds using cage nets to realize up to eight ponds measuring 40 by 40 metres.

They then reorganized the stock of which majority was comprised of male tilapia fish which were separated from about 200 female tilapias they found and additional 1,000 other females they bought from a farmer at Salgaa at Sh200 each.

This is how in August this year the two begun their Pacho Fish Farm hatchery through which they are also producing fish feeds that they sell to farmers.

Using the Y-Y technology of which they are able to manipulate the sexes of the fish to produce many males fish than females, the duo is sure of attaining over 90 per cent male fingerlings from their fast-growing hatchery.

“With this technology, we are able to provide ready tilapia fingerlings which are about 1.5cm long to farmers in 28 days at Sh7 each,” Said Otieno.

Their main target is those farmers rearing the fish to attain the table size for the consumption of which is 6-8 days of proper feeding attain 500-600 grams for tilapia that goes for between Sh300 and Sh350 each.

Other target customers are the county government and community-based organizations which buy the fingerlings for farmers in the area who have the ponds but do not have enough money to buy the seeds.

Every year, at least 30,000 fresh graduates enter job hunting mission yet companies are laying off employees due to what they term unfavourable conditions.
To beat unemployment, Mohammed Ali a Diploma in Business Administration graduate from Don Bosco institute is earning a whooping Sh130,000 per month from automobile cleaning.

He says the idea of automobile cleaning came to him in 2002 after working as a labourer in one of the car wash within Moyale town for two years.

“After my graduation, I searched for a white-collar job but I did not get one. So, I was employed as a labourer in a car wash within Moyale town where I worked for two years,” he said.
He invested Sh64,000 he got from working as a labourer in other car wash centres to start his own automobile cleaning which mainly focused on vehicles and carpets.

He spent Sh18,000 to buy a carwash machine, Sh21,000 on one vacuum cleaner Sh1,600 on the water which cost Sh10 a bucket of 20 litres and the rest he used other small equipment such as scrubbing brush and detergents such as soap and shampoo.

Soon the business picked up and he decides to open another branch in Taita Taveta then another in Naivasha along Maimahiyu road in 2006.

“The journey has never been easy because for this business to reach this far, I had to attend training in Spain, China and Dubai to know how car wash business can be improved,” said Ali.
Today the business has grown since he opened the businesses headquartered in Nairobi’s Fedha area in 2017 where he has introduced other services such as carpet cleaning, car interior upholstery and furniture cleaning among others.

He has since started offering all these services in all the company’s branches with increased investment of Sh10m which he used to buy high-quality modern machines and equipment such as three-phase pressure, hot water steam, buffing and vacuum cleaning machines among others.

Ali says these machines have made his life easy as he uses the same machines to offer different cleaning services.

“With this competitive market I had to incorporate both carpet and car wash business so as to cut on costs and maximize on profits,” says Ali who has founded Diamond Brite car wash and carpet cleaning centre in Nairobi.
The entrepreneur now has four branches across the country where he has created 20 youths in all the branches and hopes to open other branches soon.

He says he cleans approximately 1500 cars per month where the minimum price for a car is Sh200 earning him around 300,000 gross income per month.
After all, deductions which include paying his staffs, electricity and water bills, detergents among other costs, he remains with a profit of Ksh130,000 every month.

According to a September 2002 study report by International Carwash Association (ICA) on Water Use in the Professional Car Wash Industry, machines such as high-pressure water rinse machine, a high-pressure sprayer and an automated nozzle machine can be used to clean cars, carpets and furniture.

“My customers are my main marketers as they recommend Diamond Brite to potential customers and together we grow.”

Ali says he has constructed underground tanks and backup generators so that at no particular time will any of the services fail to be available.
Another fact making car wash business more profitable and fast expanding industry is the increasing number of vehicles bought in the country as over 7500 new vehicles are introduced on Kenyan roads every month.
Latest data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows that new registration of motor vehicles increased by 12.0 per cent from 91,071 units in 2017 to 102,036 units in 2018. This shows that there has been a significant increase in the number of local car owners.

“It is obvious that almost everyone is driving nowadays and therein lies a potential business,” said Ali.

To supplement his earnings, he offers other services such as night parking and restaurant to bolster the profit margins.

He advised other youths to take up every opportunity that may come their way regardless of how learned they are.

 

 

Proper information on how to run businesses can avert the death of over 75 per cent of Kenyan SMEs which do not survive barely five years after their inception.
According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) figures, only 10 per cent of SMEs are able to stay afloat after ten years of their start something which has been majorly attributed to lack of the know-how in the running of the enterprises.
“Most of these SMEs are started with unclear focus due to lack of training or mentorship on various issues such as how to identify markets and management of finances among others leading them to immature closure,” said Victor Otieno, managing director of Viffa Consult, a Kenyan based management consultancy with of developing SMEs in Africa.

Wrong reasons for starting a business

A good number of Kenyan entrepreneurs have wrong reasons or misplaced reasons as to why they want to start a business. Majority of them start with the primary goal of either to make a lot of money, not to answer to anyone apart from themselves not looking at the fact that this are benefits that come after a longer period of your business being successful.
The best reason one would decide to start a business would be having passion, love and strong belief in the business venture you want to get into. And you have done a proper investigation that your product will fill a market gap.
You need to have determination, patience to be able to make it in the business world. Every time you get a challenge it should give more motivation to grow.

Poor Management

Many businesses report business failures as a result of poor management as the main reason why their businesses fail. Many new business owners do not have the technical know-how to run a successful business. This ranges from getting the best market for the product at hand, knowledge to run a business this is because a big percentage of business owners just decide to start a business with no relevant experience or having someone to coach them through.
To be able to have a long business lifespan it is advised that young or new upcoming entrepreneurs need to get basic training on how to run a business, one could either go for relevant classes or get professional consultants who will take you through the required steps to make your business successful.
Poor management is not just on the line of not having the required skills; it also encompasses a business owner neglecting his or her business. Every young business enterprise needs a lot of care, planning and control of everyday activities.

Insufficient Capital

Having constant cash flow is very important for a business. Business owners need to ensure when they are making a projected cost of a business. Most new business owners mostly do not look at the operating costs of their business. This is because they work on the assumption that their businesses will pick up immediately and they will make big sales not thinking that their business will need some time before they make commendable sales.

The Wrong Location

Location is an important factor to consider when setting up your business. The wrong location would mean the death of your business no matter how good you run it. Some of the factors to consider when setting up your business is who are your customer, location of your competitors, the security of the area, if your business really relies on human traffic it would be important to locate your business where you could maximum human traffic.
One important thing to note is if your business does not have constant human traffic the ideal location for your business would be at home. This will help you reduce on the rent costs.

Overexpansion

Expansion of a business does not really translate to business success this is one thing many business owners get wrong. So many businesses go under as a result of expanding their enterprises too fast.
Having an established customer base and constant cash flow is one of the factors to consider before deciding to expand your business. You need to have careful review and research before you decide that you want to expand your enterprise. One really needs to consider if their business will continue to run smoothly before you decide to expand. It would be quite sad if you expand your business only for it to completely run down two-three months later.
Victor continues to add before one decides to take up any business venture, he or she needs to well informed and educated in the sector or get professional help so as to make sure your monetary investment does not go to waste.

2020 has been a tough year, a year that most of us would want to forget. As we look forward to a brighter 2021, we took a moment to pause, reflect and appreciate the support we received from our partners, advisors & well wishers to not only tide through the tough times, but also listen to our hearts and make bold moves.

We are championing a global revolution in creating youth-led sustainable rural businesses to support and uplift 500 million smallholder farmers. The first to admit we don’t have all the answers, we are bringing together the ecosystem actors onto ONE Network to collaboratively work on this grand challenge together.

We have done the handwork. We have tested & validated the model @Scale under extreme conditions. We are now Future REDI and are looking for like minded partners to walk the path. Join us on our journey to support these communities to Learn, Connect & Grow @Scale.

Wishing you and your family a happy new year 2021. Stay safe and Stay Healthy.