Those who have been there and have done it argue that for one reason or another, there is no harm starting a small business and growing it big over time. It could be about phone wallets, denim shirts, shoes, cutlery or even a tiny spare parts shop. Go for one that is right for you so that you don’t blow your money by settling for a wrong venture. At the end of it all things work out, not necessarily the way you imagined, but things eventually begin to click.
It is because of this that in October last year, Linnet Mwangi launched Jolin store, a tiny company working majorly on delivering trendy female handbags. Just when she was a stay home mum who needed to try her hands on something to avoid being idle, a business was birthed.
“I saw someone advertising bags, I had no cash with me to start the business at that time,” she says. “But I really wanted to start something that would help me put food on the table. I was just seated in the house bored with my little angel.”
Ms Mwangi thought that the prospects in supplying fast moving products is what will create a bright future for her and decided to execute what she had in mind with the little capital of Sh5, 000, money she borrowed from her aunty. She was to pay back the amount the following day.
Like millionaires, she decided not to sleep at home while playing with her angel on the side but to start in a small way. She bought the bags and got a profit of Sh2, 000 on the same day. With that she was able to pay back her “soft loan” on schedule and the real hustle towards becoming wealthy begun.
“I started going from shop to shop looking for orders. After one month I was able to start a small shop, which I used to pay a rent of Sh2, 000. Then I employed someone to work from that shop as I do field work,” she says.
Analysing the best business to start is no easy task. But for Ms Mwangi, digital platforms especially the social media – particularly Facebook and WhatsApp groups – is a boost to her business as she now gets orders online and does deliveries in town and countrywide. Her handbags are sourced from Mombasa, and they are new.
“Most of the time I do it online,” she says. “First I took my phone and signed up for WhatsApp and started advertising the bags posting them on groups that were of interest to my trade at no cost. Thank God I got some orders from my friends.”
It is a fact that these days it is better to be an entrepreneur than a job seeker. You have heard about individuals who after completing their studies look out for jobs but all in vain. As always the case this lot delve into businesses when it is already a little too late as they think about entrepreneurship after wasting many years doing spirited search for jobs, which are either scarce or simply not available.
Despite the dark cloud, Ms Mwangi is on a roll, currently streamlining her young business, which she says is growing in leaps and bounds. It is currently valued at over Sh250,000. She says: “I have a shop and a ready market. I still market and sell through online platforms and I’m happy to say it is really picking up. I see myself growing even more and I am sure I will create job opportunities.”
She is actually proving that you must not be financially well heeled to set up a successful business venture. Many enterprising Kenyans usually go for second hand clothes – popular as mitumba – for example, and would buy either in bales or select good ones. They are usually affordable with price ranging from as low as Sh100 to Sh500, depending on quantity. The idea is; start with fast moving stuff then get the other stuff later on when business picks up pace.
That is why to her, it is about the numbers, and she is targeting the mass market in order to make good profits. With wholesale price for the bags ranging from Sh300 to Sh400, and retail price starting from Sh450 to Sh500, the goods are fly off the shelves.
Although business is brisk, she is dealing with the few challenges like staying for, say, one week without getting orders, or selling anything. This highlights the kind of tough scenario, one, which only those who have been there can fathom. Well, you have to get creative, perhaps the main reason why Ms Mwangi is selling cutlery alongside handbags.
“There are times that we get very few orders or none at all but we don’t give up. I sell utensils too but on order. I don’t stock them and only sell whenever I get serious requests from those who buy bags,” she says.
