My name is Gad Kibiwot and my vegetables business is known as Good Fortune Greens. It is located in Nanyuki town, in Laikipia County. This business is the primary source of my livelihood.
I started it five months ago. It deals with the sale of vegetables including broccoli, spinach, managu (black nightshade), terere (amaranthus), cabbages, sukuma wiki, onions, tomatoes, cauliflower, capsicum, lettuce, and herbs. My prices vary depending on the type of vegetable on sale.
There are some that sell per kilogram and others per stem. This is not the first time that I have ventured into agribusiness. I was a farmer before I switched to my current business. I used to farm and sell most of the vegetables wholesale through brokers. Then I realized that I was not getting good returns.
The middlemen became very exploitative on pricing. In some instances, they earned more than I did from my vegetables. This provoked me into considering alternative ways of putting my vegetables in the market. One of the ideas I had was to harvest and transport my produce to wholesale markets in Nairobi.
I did a cost versus return analysis and found out that this would be a risky move. In the end, I decided to open a small shop where I could sell to the end consumer on retail. I opened the shop along the road that leads to Baraka estate in Nanyuki.
I chose this location to tap in new and return customers who lived in the estate. My earnings have risen to Sh. 3,000 per day. This translates to Sh. 90,000 per month.
Running this business has not been without challenges. There are seasons when I suffer significant post-harvest losses at my shop. I don’t have a cold room or refrigeration system that can preserve and extend the shelf life of my vegetables when there is glut in the market.
To minimize these losses, I have adopted a harvest-on-demand approach. I harvest my vegetables and stock up my shop based on consumer demand and cash flow.
David Macharia: From street paparazzi to owning multiple businesses
Working as a Baba Mboga, I have come face to face with the social stigma attached to small scale businesses. Most men are very reluctant to join in because this type of business is not very highly regarded in the society. The picture that comes to mind when I tell someone that I am a ‘Baba Mboga’ is that of a man who couldn’t find anything better in life to do.
But there is good money for those who can put their ego aside. In some months, I have made much more net profit than what some white collar jobs offer. Previously, I worked as a security officer, and given a choice, I would never close shop to return to that job.
There is no shame in rolling your sleeves and doing an unpopular, legal business that can make you good money. In the next five years, I am hoping to open numerous stalls in Nanyuki town and scale up my fresh produce farm and start transporting on a larger scale to bigger markets in Meru and Nyeri.
