As a child Melanie Wituka, 33, dreamt of becoming a lawyer. She was well on her way to doing just that after scoring an A- in KCSE and being accepted into Moi University when she received a scholarship to the University of Russia. She decided to take that up instead.

“I studied international relations because it was the only course taught in English, not Russian,” she says. After graduation in 2006, Melanie came back home briefly, then moved to Beijing, China, to learn Chinese. A few months into her six-month language course, Melanie learnt that the Kenyan embassy in Beijing needed a translator. She offered to work there as a volunteer translator. She also taught English part time to Chinese students.

“During that time, I would get six-month to one-year tourist visas without a problem. However, in 2008 in the run up to the Beijing Olympics, it became increasingly difficult to get a visa, so I decided to come back home,” she recalls.

Three years after her she moved to China, Melanie came back, confident that her foreign university certificates would give her the upper edge.

Convinced that the Kenyan embassy in Beijing would hire someone with her skills, Melanie approached the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“They offered me a position in the communications department in Kenya with a starting salary of Sh22, 000. It was too little so I declined the offer,” says the mother of one.

Ironically, shortly thereafter, Melanie got a job with the Chinese who were constructing Thika superhighway. They, too, offered her Sh22, 000. She accepted it.

Melanie ended up a Jill of all trades: translating official letters and documents for the Chinese, supervising works on site and handling all sorts of administrative tasks. It was a demanding job requiring her to be at work seven days a week and after a month, she realised that there were no prospects of growth. She quit and went back to her mother’s house in Kakamega.

“I had friends my age who were doing business with the government, thanks to the Constituency Development Fund (CDF). I felt that I could do the same.”

Melanie stumbled upon this opportunity one day on her way to Ikolomani in Kakamega, when she saw women working at a road construction site.

“Impressed, I parked my car, walked up to them and started chatting with them about road construction. As I drove off, I thought if these women with such little education could do it, so could I. That is how my foray into the contracting business began.”

Melanie revived SULECO Company Limited, her family’s company that had been registered in 1991 but that had been inactive.

Now that she had an idea of what she wanted to do, she talked with industry experts who could tell her all about how to succeed as a contractor.  “They encouraged me to pursue the business even if I did not have capital because Mechanical Trust Fund (MTF), a government agency which leases construction equipment to small, upcoming contractors on credit, would assist me.”

Learning the ropes

For the next six months, Melanie spent her days learning the ropes at different road construction sites in Kakamega until she felt ready for her first project.

“I then went to Ikolomani CDF offices and asked them to give me a trial road construction job. Fortunately, they commissioned me to work on a six-kilometre stretch of road from Isulu Market to Shikumu. The project was worth Sh1.7 million.”

Starting off was not difficult because the people she approached were willing to help. Melanie got equipment on loan from the MTF, and also got two weeks’ worth of fuel on credit, from a contractor who runs a petrol station. Her mother took out a Sh200, 000 chama loan for her, which she used to pay the stone crushers.

“I also did not hide the fact that I was a greenhorn. I specifically asked for female workers from MTF to help me on this project.

I forged a good relationship with them and asked them to help me do a perfect job. I completed the road to the satisfaction of the CDF officials and that gave me confidence to pitch for jobs in other constituencies,” she recalls.

After that, Melanie got a bigger contract worth Sh20 million, a five-year project that involved sinking a community borehole, erecting a 50, 000-litre steel water tank and installing a water distribution system in Lurambi Constituency. “I have been able to win bids to work on 20 jobs with Kenya Rural Roads Authority, 20 with CDF in different constituencies around the country, several from the Kenya National Highways Authority, and one for the Kakamega county government,” Melanie, who is the secretary general of the Kakamega Vihiga Contractors Association, says.

Still, there are challenges. Getting supplies and services on credit for her CDF projects can be hard because most people fear that if the current MP is not re-elected especially where long-term projects are involved, then they might lose their money if the next MP doesn’t back the project. It was also initially difficult for Melanie to get business loans from banks.

“I had no collateral. Others suggested that I should borrow money for a catering business instead of construction. I had to change banks several times until I got one that is supportive,” she says.

SULECO now employs 20 permanent staff and over 200 casual workers whenever Melanie gets bigger projects.

“My best moment so far was when I was crowned the best female contractor in 2014 out of the 700 female contractors in the country. I am happy when people recognise my work because that means I can get even more referrals and projects to work on.”

Melanie wishes to see more women get into profitable building and construction works and hopes to make positive changes in the construction industry.

“This industry is often associated with corruption and we need new players who can come and re-write the rules of the game to make it clean,” she says.

HOW SHE DID IT:

• To earn people’s trust in a male-dominated field, be sincere, stand firm and work in a way that earns you respect.
• When people trust you with their money, give them the best services.
•  Always be on site to supervise.
•  Believe in yourself.
•  Be persistent. Stay committed and don’t give up. Be passionate and know the business well.
•  Be professional in everything you do.