Tomato farming

My name is Stella and I want to share my story so that you can feel motivated and know that life is what you make.

I completed college in 2010 with a degree in Mathematics. I immediately moved to Nairobi to seek employment like other graduates. I had to tarmac for three months before my friend connected me to a research firm in Westlands Nairobi. He referred to one of his relatives who is a Research Manager in the firm. Luckily, he considered me for the position of a Research Associate.

I worked there for one and half years, earning Ksh 45,000 per month. Though I loved my job, it reached a time where I could not handle the pressure of meeting my ambitions, I thought I was stagnant. I did one thing repeatedly until I realized I was becoming useless as far as success is concerned.

Becoming a tomato farmer

One night, I was watching a program on K24, where one entrepreneur was explaining how she made it in life. Within 30 minutes I was inspired, I told myself, ‘if this young man has just a Diploma and is worth Ksh 10 million, why not me’.
The following morning I rushed to my work place as usual, but I was bothered the whole day, I felt so empty but there was no one in the room to explain to what I was feeling. Everybody was talking about masters and getting promotions, even if I told them it wouldn’t have made sense to them.

Read: 8 mistakes to avoid in tomato farming in Kenya

Each day, I could wake up and figure out what to do in order to change my life. To be honest, I used to exhaust my salary just 15 days after being paid. I was not extravagant but I was shocked each month how meager it was. For three good years, I was in pains to explain what I had done with my salary, so I wanted to supplement my income with something like business.

It was in 2013 August when my contract was terminated: the company was doing reorganization in order to cut costs and I was among the unfortunate employees. I remember very well the day I was given the dismissal letter. I was told, alongside 15 others, to clear with Human Resources department immediately-it was painful.
One week later I found myself at home, jobless and with only Ksh 50,000 in my pocket. I started looking for another job because the amount I had could not sustain me for three months.

One day as I was walking along Kenyatta Avenue-I had dropped my CV at Consolidated Bank of Kenya-I found my high school friend walking hurriedly in the opposite direction. I didn’t recognize him; he was the one who held my hand as I was walking past him. We chatted for some minutes but since he was meeting a client, he told me to accompany him.

Read: New farmer building profits from watermelon and tomato farming

That was the moment I found a friend, someone we shared the same vision. He told me that the moment he completed high school he went straight into business and never looked back. I told him about my plight and how I strive to be where my conscience drives me to. He told me that he has several farms in Kajiado where he plants tomatoes, onions and cabbage. The moment I heard him declare what he is doing, I immediately begged him to take me to his farm so that I could learn one or two things.

Humble beginning

The following month I found myself having 2 acres of land in Kajiado. I leased one acre at Ksh10, 000 per year. I managed to secure Ksh 50,000 loan from my father because the Ksh 50,000 I had saved was not enough.

I decided to plant tomatoes in the two acres.
Four months later, I had my first harvest. Surprisingly, God is good; tomatoes were very scarce in the market. I made a profit of Ksh 600,000 from the two acres after harvesting three times. This motivated me more and I was again tempted to plant the second time. The second time I made Ksh 360,000.

I was so excited to see real money, I was used to save Ksh. 45,000 every month but this time I had my Ksh 1 million in my account within a year.

As I write this, I have made good money and thank God I was fired from my first job,I could be like several graduates who are silently suffering in offices as some of us make deals and enjoy the work of our hands. What I like most in what I do is the fact that I don’t report to anyone, I also don’t have to work every day.

Last year December, I took my certificates to my mother, I don’t want to see them.