Dr Amakove Wala was ridiculed by many people when she started frying and selling fish from a small kibanda near the Bomas of Kenya. In fact, one of her critics was so aggrieved that they wrote her a protest letter.
In the letter, they protested that Dr Wala was bringing the name of her former school, Alliance Girls High School, to shame by operating a kibanda fish frying business. For a medical doctor, this was a business that was below her, they argued.
But it is often said that it is the wearer of the shoe who knows where it pinches the most. Well, for Dr Amakove Wala, this bold move to start a side hustle came out of necessity. And when she started it, there were many people who cheered her on, visited her premises, and bought her delicious fried fish.
Dr Wala shared on her platform that by the time she decided to start her fish frying business, she had already left formal employment, and consultancies in health care where she was practicing had really slowed down. This translated into reduced income for the single mother of four.
“I had to face a difficult question: how do I sustain my family? As a single parent, bills do not wait. Life does not pause. And the world does not owe you anything. Some friendships faded. Calls went unanswered. Life demanded adjustments,” said Dr Wala.
Not one to stay down when things seem to be going rough, Dr Wala began exploring the type of side hustles she could venture into.
“I asked myself a simple question: what problem do I face that others around me also face?” she said.
She narrowed down to ordinary frustrations that people were facing and whose solutions they would find helpful and be willing to pay for.
“One of my frustrations was something very ordinary — getting good deep-fried fish in my neighbourhood. Often, you had to send someone very far to find it. So I asked myself: what would it take to start a fish business? The answer was simple: a small premise, a frying pan, heat… and of course fish,” said Dr Wala.
She acquired the frying equipment, hired a helper, and opened her business dubbed Koven Kafe in a small kibanda near the Bomas of Kenya.
“There was plenty of ridicule. People wondered: Why would a well-accomplished medical doctor be frying fish in a kibanda?” she recalls.
Take Starlings Muchiri, who as the Vice Chairman of the Alliance High School Old Boys Club, penned the protest letter to Dr Wala.
“You are peddling a narrative that being gifted counts for nothing. You are peddling a narrative that being focused on achievements counts for nothing,” claimed Muchiri.
Muchiri: I’m disturbed Alliance alumna Dr Amakove Wala is selling fish in kibanda
“You are flaunting your polymorphic talents to peddle the false narrative that your less talented brothers and sisters can peel garlic and smoke fish in the morning and dine with president and foreign dignitaries in the evening.”
Dr Wala, in her response to such criticism, emphasized that she was living her truth.
“I am not peddling a false narrative. I am living my truth. A truth that embraces the fact that intelligence, talent, and ambition are not confined to a single lane. I am a doctor. I am an entrepreneur. I am a strategist. And yes, if I decide to peel garlic and smoke fish, that too is part of my journey—not a step down, not a failure, but a choice,” said Dr Wala.
“I will continue to share my journey unapologetically. Not for clicks, but to show that success is not a straight road—it is a landscape of many paths.”
One year later, she has been vindicated. Dr Wala recalls that in the first month of operation, her small fish business paid her rent in an affluent neighborhood.
“One year later, the journey has grown to three branches, 21 employees, and we have now moved from the kibanda to a bigger premise,” she says.
Dr Wala, who recently announced that she will be seeking the Vihiga Woman Rep seat during the 2027 General Elections, shared that this growth has been testament that small businesses in the kadogo economy matter.
“This experience reinforced something I deeply believe, that small businesses matter. They create dignity, jobs, and opportunity for families,” she said.
“It is also a reminder of why systems that support small entrepreneurs are so important — access to markets, fair licensing, safe working environments, and opportunities for growth.”
