We’ve heard so many tales of people venturing into farming or any other form of entrepreneurship simply because they grew up relying on the venture as their economic mainstay.

This is a testament that a person’s background greatly influences who they become in the future.  For Rahab Kiige, growing up in a family of self-employed individuals inspired her to also venture into entrepreneurship.

After high school, Rahab enrolled in accountancy, a career that was then popular among her peers. While still in campus, she secured a job at Kitengela hospital as an accountant, an opportunity that was a stepping stone to her future ventures.

Immediately after graduating, she was determined to fulfill her entrepreneurship wish. In partnership with a friend identified as Maina, the duo started an accountancy college in Kitengela.

“We started a college of teaching accountancy in Kitengela and used to call ourselves Shina School of Accountancy which was actually doing very well, we had almost 30 students within a very short duration,” she recalled.

They, however, closed down and went back to employment. She worked at Safaricom as a salesperson before joining Jica, an opportunity that she says exposed her to so many opportunities that sharpened her entrepreneurial journey.

Rahab would later quit employment after she felt that the time had come to soldier by herself. She tried her hand in various agribusinesses, including chicken and onion farming, but failed terribly, leaving her in losses.

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However, this did not deter her from trying something different. She would later venture into the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods business, inspired by her sister, who was also doing the business.

After a thorough research about the business, Rahab secured a loan but unfortunately lost all in a con game.

“I was conned the loan and so the shop started with nothing. I was depressed when I realized I had been conned the loan,” she narrated.

In efforts to secure funding, a “God-sent” client visited her shop and made a deposit of Sh200,000 with a promise of purchasing some goods.

“I remember the first stack of money he gave me was Sh50,000. He said I’m going to come and buy goods from your shop, so he gave me Sh50,000. Two days later, he walked in and gave me another Sh50,000, a week later, or maybe another. Within that one week, he gave me Sh200,000,” she revealed.

She used the money to acquire stock for her hardware shop. While the money was not enough for the capital-intensive hardware business, Rahab established a rapport with different supplies who would supply goods to her whenever clients ordered.

“Sh200,000 in hardware is pocket change, so what customers were ordering, I had already obtained rapport with different suppliers, so I used to send the vehicle very first to get the goods and then come and supply the customers,” she says.

Things started to blossom when another client walked in and made a deposit of Sh1 million. She was able to make a little profit, which she plowed back into the business.

She notes that the business broke even after two years of consistency and customer satisfaction.

According to Rahab, quality, efficiency, fair pricing and good customer service are some of the secrets to succeeding in the hardware business.

“You must make sure that you give the people the quality that they deserve for the value of money that they are giving you,” she says.

From zero capital, the businesswoman has now expanded her business to two shops in Naivasha and Gilgil.