He is considered one of the more successful entrepreneurs in Eldoret, but by just looking at him, you would not know this. Stephen Mugwira Nduati keeps a low profile. And while he could easily afford to live in one of the town’s leafy suburbs, he instead resides in an estate largely populated by middle-income earners.
But perhaps he shuns the ostentatious lifestyle because he knows how easy it is to lose it all — and he nearly did in the 2008 post-election violence, when several of his businesses were looted. Still, Mr Nduati is not one to let a few bumps derail his life’s plan to succeed in business.
The 52-year-old holds a degree in mechanical engineering, which he got in 1984, but his interest in business was piqued when he decided to study for a diploma in business management while working as a storekeeper at Kenya Airways early on in his career. After completing his studies, he left the airline to take up a job as technical manager at manufacturer Raiply, a position he held for five years.
He was determined to put into practice what he had learned, so after office hours, he started several businesses. Most flopped. “I knew I could earn my salary through running my own business, so I kept looking. I even got into farming,” Nduati said. But he faced stiff competition from better-established farmers.
“Rift Valley is Kenya’s bread basket, with maize and wheat thriving in several parts of the region. This is what got me into farming, but contrary to my expectations, I did not realise much profit from my harvests, so I cut my losses and looked for something else.” He figured out a butchery would do well — after all, a lot of Kenya is meat-loving country. But again, the competition was too high and profits were hard to come by, so he closed shop.
“After closing my butchery, rather than give up, I started importing products from the Middle East to sell locally. This, too, collapsed after a short time due to poor management from my employees and the heavy levies imposed by revenue officials,” Nduati said. But he finally found success selling fabric and furniture. He had developed an interest in making furniture while still in school, so it was a return to something he was passionate about after successive failures.
The profits proved sustainable, so he quit his job to fully focus on it. From the proceeds of the business, the father of four has since ventured into real estate, and now owns 18 rental apartments in Eldoret.
He sells his sofas for between Sh50,000 and Sh80,000, and has grown the business to four furniture workshops. He also runs several other stores in the town and neighbouring counties that sell, among other things, mattresses and hardware products.