Charles Kimani is the Director of Jamii Industrial Park Ltd, commonly known as Jamii Products. Jamii is a manufacturing company which specializes in khaki paper products including packing bags, envelopes boxes, book covers, branding and marketing and cutting rolls, and khaki raw materials
I started this business in a single room where I used to live along Kenyatta Road in Kiambu County in January 2018. My startup capital was a mobile loan that I took on January 3 of that year. It took the business two years to break even. 2020 was our break-even year.
A huge number of enterprises started making big orders for packaging bags as the 2020 restrictions kicked in and deliveries skyrocketed. This boosted our revenues to a point where the business became self-reliant.
Two years before I opened this business, I worked as a fruit vendor. I was in college at the time. Today, despite running my business, I am also a student pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Business Information Technology at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
When I started my business, my biggest money mistake was investing in some media adverts. Two years later, I am yet to see returns on my investment. Looking back, I should have been keener with research on the target audience and proper timing to reach the relevant customers.
Before you spend on marketing, always be very clear on whom you are targeting and why. These will determine the level of business conversion you will get.
Tony Kamau: I saved 20k to start my business; took 33 months to break even
My greatest moments have been the capacity I have had to transform my brothers and sisters financially through this business. In 2021, I mentored them in starting their own branch in Naivasha. There’s no greater joy than succeeding in tandem with your siblings. I also remember when I made a sale of Sh. 35,000 in my early days.
This to me was akin to making a Sh. 10 million sale. I felt validated and vindicated that I was on the right track. There were customers willing to spend on my skills and my products.
I prefer to save using the bank. This is a method that has worked for me very well especially with access to financing. I am also fortunate to bank with a lender who offers mentorship and networking opportunities for manufacturers. This has opened me up to multiple business opportunities.
Previously, I saved using my mobile phone. This did not pan out very due to ease of access. I quickly realized that mobile money streams are best preserved for transactions and not for savings.
Entrepreneurship sounds easy. But I would never advise a professional career person to quit for business. I wouldn’t tell a qualified doctor to start their own hospitals or a lecturer to start their own colleges where there’s no passion.
Some of us are passionate about running our own show, others are more passionate in their employment careers. As I have learned, what matters the most is the revenue each brings in and how you utilize it for personal wealth generation.
People are the source of wealth. They determine which end of the spectrum you end up in between wealth and poverty. Guard your relations with them closely especially in your business undertakings.
If you have a project that serves humanity, widen its space to accommodate more people if capacity allows you. The universe will repay you tenfold.
A version of this profile feature on Charles Kimani of Jamii Products was also published in the Saturday Magazine. The Saturday Magazine is a publication of the Nation Media Group.
