Starting and growing a business is a journey that requires a lot of discipline and consistency no matter how small or big the business is.

According to Josiah, a businessman based in Nairobi discipline and determination are the main pillars of success in business.

He notes that with these two qualities, anyone can create multimillion wealth even from the smallest business.

Narrating his entrepreneurial journey, the budding businessman revealed he made his first million from selling bananas.

”Immediately I settled in Nairobi I came face to face with the challenges of living in the city. The first thing to hit me was that everything I did required money. I was forced to be innovative.’’ He says.

With a mere Sh2,000, he started selling second-hand clothes popularly known as Mitumba, making between Sh100-Sh300 per day.

The meager profit forced him to look for an extra source of income as he was financially struggling having relocated from Ruiru to Jogoo Road.

”I did the business for two years, making my meager profit. After realizing I was not moving in terms of financial stability, I decided to diversify.’’

”That was when I started selling bananas and Njugu alongside the mitumba. My first shock came when I realized bananas were fetching me twice as much as I made from Mitumba.’’ He says.

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Josiah immediately dropped the Mitumba business to fully focus on bananas. He started as a retail trader before upgrading to wholesale trade after securing a loan of Sh150,000 from a local bank.

”I took a truck from Gikomba market, together with one of my Kisii friends, then off to Keumbu Kisii. I was charged Ksh 10,000 for transport and also paid Ksh 3,000 for loading and offloading.’’

”One truck of bananas cost me Ksh 45,000. The first trip yielded Ksh 7,000 in profits. That was after I sold my bananas for a period of 4 days.’’ He explains.

He revealed the business peaked so quickly and he was able to repay the loan within a period of 3 months. Josiah says he made his first million in 2015 from this business.

The businessman shares some of the lessons he learned from his entrepreneurship journey:

• That for you to succeed in business, you must persevere: money does not come just like that, people must steal from you, you must make losses, you must meet stiff competition. But all these will come to an end when you become resilient.
• If you have a business idea, don’t say I will start when I get capital: if you are this kind of a person, then I can assure you the idea will be dead. Look for all means to get capital, you can even sell land.
• We all have the opportunity to make it in life, but what some of you imagine is that success is reserved for specific people. All the wealthy people you see around started from somewhere.
• No business is small, what is needed is discipline and determination-you will make it.
• These are the four most important things in business: capital,product source,market and profit.