Friday, March 29, 2024

I used to hawk meat in Nairobi, today I’m worth over Sh. 74 million

Hawking in Nairobi: For 19 years, Teresia Kimiti was used to a routine at the insurance company where she and her husband worked. In fact, she did not give retirement much though even though they lived from salary to salary.

She was earning Sh17,000 then. “I worked at the front office while my husband Joseph was a commission agent at the same company,” she says. However, one day in 1996 out of the blue, the company was dissolved and Kimiti, her husband and hundreds of others were rendered jobless.

To make matters worse, they learnt that they were not going to get their terminal dues. As is the case with most workers, Kimiti and her colleagues took to the streets to demonstrate.

“For eight good weeks, we run the streets, but the company was not moved by our plight,” she says. With bills to pay, kids to educate and family to feed, Kimiti, realised the demonstration would not solve the problem. She went back home and she decided to start a business.

She had Sh4,000 she had saved and went into meat hawking. She bought 10kgs of meat, repackaged and set out on her new venture. The first day, she made a profit of Sh500. “I realised butcheries were far and I saw a business opportunity,” says the mother of six.

With time, her business grew and started looking for tenders. Kimiti says her turning point was when she was asked to deliver 80kgs of beef and 16 kg of minced meat. Before that year ended she had saved Sh100,000. When she could not manage alone, her husband joined as a partner.

After three years, she bought her first meat delivery car. “I started with beef but some institutions wanted pork and in my business the word ‘No’ doesn’t exist. I was buying a kilo at Sh70 and selling it at Sh200 and this was good business,” she says.

With her business doing well, Kimiti says she had the urge to do something that would give her more satisfaction; combine business with philanthropy. When she had time, she went to Aga Khan Walk in Nairobi and talked to street children who were always there playing games.

After weeks of listening to their plight, she started a feeding programme. In August 2002, the family rented 12 rooms at Mlolongo and took in 38 street children under an initiative she called Heritage of Faith and Hope Rehabilitation Centre, which later rebranded to Heritage of Faith and Hope Children’s Resource Centre.

The name of the small business was called Heritage of Faith Butchery and Supply and since it was the mother to the children’s home the home was given the same name.

From her business, Kimiti started paying school fees for the children. Since she couldn’t run two homesteads, she brought her own children there and they formed one family. In 2005, the home had more than 100 children and a well-wisher rented more rooms.

Later, more partners came on board and they the Kamiti’s started a school. “We are running our primary school known as Heritage of Faith Christian School, which is fully registered with the Ministry of Education and we also admit children from the community as a way of earning income,” she says.

Currently, the home has shifted to Sabaki in Athi River where the school is located and it accommodates more than 160 children with 118 in boarding. They charge Sh12,000 for pre-school, Sh15,000 for classes one to three and Sh18,000 for classes Four to Eight per term.

To make the institution self-sustaining they have initiated two major income generating projects; irrigation, dairy farming and poultry keeping. Dairy farming and greenhouse project approximately brings an income of Sh800,000 per year. Rabbit project approximately brings Sh50,000 per year.

Kimiti says she sold the meat business when it was worth Sh1 million to concentrate on running the school and the home. Now, the school and the home are approximately worth Sh74 million. Asked about her growth in business, Kimiti says for one to succeed, they need an open mind.

Connect With Us

320,549FansLike
14,108FollowersFollow
8,436FollowersFollow
1,880SubscribersSubscribe

Latest Stories

Related Stories