After years of teaching, Josephat Muhia quit her career to venture into entrepreneurship after attempts to join politics failed.
Muhia a former teacher at Kinangop Gateway Secondary in Nyandarua County decided to venture into the cooking gas retail business in Kinangop.
The businessman revealed he started his enterprise, Stressfree Gas, which supplies Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) to most of the areas in Kinangop, with a capital of 28,000.
”I began the LPG business in September 2017 and now have five full-time employees. I started small and watched the business grow. My initial capital was Sh28, 000 but has grown to over Sh1 million.’’ Said Muhia.
He explained that he sources stock from authorized wholesalers and also from the oil marketing companies directly.
Just How Profitable Is Cooking Gas (LPG) Business?
According to him, to venture into the LPG gas business, one needs various licenses including a license from the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) and also business licenses from the County Council including a fire and weight and measure license.
Just like any other business, Muhia notes that the cooking gas business has a fair share of challenges among them competition and taxes.
”We have sellers who buy illegally filled gas which is cheap and are hence able to attract many customers. This leaves us who buy genuine gas from the right source to have low sales. Luckily, customers return to us after unsatisfactory service from such rogue dealers.’’ He added.
He adds that the introduction of the Value Added Tax (VAT) has affected the business since more people have resorted to using other fuels such as charcoal.
