Unlike many graduates who move to seek employment after graduating, Maureen Wanyaga, a Human Resource graduate from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), was never interested in employment but decided to venture into entrepreneurship.
“After enrolling in campus, I knew I wanted to start a business, but I was not sure which one,” she says.
The 32-year-old started vending lollipops while in campus. Her business paid so well and after some time, with the help of her sister, she was able to purchase her first motorbike.
The motorbike helped her in running her business thanks to her business acumen, as she had bought three motorcycles by the time she was leaving university.
With Sh50,000 savings, Maureen decided to expand her business and was able to start a rabbit business.
She began with five bunnies at their Kahawa Sukari residence on the outskirts of Nairobi, and within six months, the rabbits had multiplied to 60.
“I realized they are fast breeders and saw an untapped opportunity,” she says.
Meet Juja couple minting profit from dairy goat farming, selling milk
While the journey has so far been a success, it was not a smooth sail for Maureen, who had to relocate the venture to his rural home in Muthinga, Tetu Constituency, after a mongoose attack that claimed nearly half of her rabbits.
“Doing business in Nairobi is very expensive. So I decided to move and do my business in Tetu,” she added.
She was encouraged by the fact that the rabbits grow fast and their production costs are low, especially in the rural home.
One female rabbit can produce between eight to 11 bunnies at once. Maureen rears six breeds — New Zealand, California White, Dutch, Flemish Giant, Checkered, and Palomino.
Besides breeding rabbits for meat, Maureen also sells rabbit droppings and urine as organic manure. She collects 2,000 liters of urine daily, which local farmers utilize as a natural pesticide. She sells 300 kilos of manure to farmers at Sh5,000 and Sh50 per litre of urine
With over 1,000 rabbits on her farm, Maureen says costly rabbit feeds is the biggest challenge in rabbit farming. A 50 kilo of commercial feeds sells at Sh2,200.