Mary Mutola is a fashion and design technical teacher, and the founder of Sasha Designs Closet, a fashion and design business located in Nairobi.
I had just graduated from school in 2018 when I started my business. Apart from graduation, I had just come out of a failed relationship with one child. In addition, I had just relocated from upcountry to Nairobi. Life was quite expensive. I had to quickly think of ways to sustain myself and raise my child because my teaching certificates were yet to be processed. I got a job to cook and sell chapatis, popularly known as chapo mwitu. My pay was Sh. 50 which was paid thrice in a day to make Sh. 150. In five months, I managed to save Sh. 3,000 which I used to buy a table. I brought an old sewing machine which I had inherited from my parents and started designing outfits. I was not perfect at the start, but I had to start somewhere. I would post my outfits on social media.
It took me 5 months before I got my first customer. All this while, I ran my chapo mwitu cooking hustle on the sidelines before I got a fashion trainer job. When customers started making orders, a new challenge emerged. Many of them were dissatisfied with the type of work I did on the outfits because of lack of experience. Today, I can say that I lost most of the first customers I made outfits for. But months down the line, I got a call from a childhood friend who was holding a wedding. She gave me an order for the entire wedding outfits. This order not only boosted my capital base but gave me the business confidence and vindication that I craved for.
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I had difficulties separating my business money from my salary. I was not able to account for the amount of profit I used to get in a month because all the money I earned from the business and the job went into a single account. To solve this problem, I started by utilizing my M-Pesa account. I would keep the money in my Till wallet with a corresponding record of items sold, cost of production and profit made.
I am in both business and employment. I don’t favour one over the other. I advocate that you have both. One salary will not be enough to get you to your goals. You need multiple sources of income, and with employment, you can best create them through side hustles. In my case, there are days when business is low. Fashion goes with seasons. In low seasons, I get a boost from my job. I have also learned that it is important to venture into a side hustle that matches your skills.
I have been reinvesting any profit the business makes. For instance, I ensure that I have an adequate stock of all the necessary fabrics and materials. This helps me to avoid the rush to the market. It also cuts down on purchasing costs as I am able to buy in bulk when prices are good in the market.
Starting my journey with chapo mwitu has taught me the importance of making every coin matter. No money is too small. If I had concluded that Sh. 150 was too little to save from, I would never have started my fashion business journey. Let your matter. But this is only doable if you are willing to live within your means, within what your money can afford.
This profile on Mary Mutola was first published in the Saturday Magazine. The Saturday Magazine is a publication of the Nation Media Group.