Kenya’s wealthy individuals have some of the most inspiring rags-to-riches tales out there. This can be seen vested in the life of Moses Nditika. He was the director of Tumaini Supermarkets.
Launched in 2006, the retailer grew to have 12 fully operational branches. Each store had a turnover of around Sh. 200 million.
In 2019, Tumaini Supermarket merged with Quickmart after selling a majority of its stake hence forming a single retail operation. However, Moses Nditika’s story of growing the small retail store into what it became is magnificent.
Nditika started his entrepreneurial journey as a supermarket attendant. He worked his way up the ladder to become the retail manager.
In this position, Nditika learned the ins and outs of the retail business, how products move and such.
Soon after, by virtue of patience and discipline, Nditika became the owner of a supermarket chain in the largest economy in Eastern and Central Africa.
“I started as a shop attendant, up to senior manager status in the same organisation. It gave me the time and experience of how a small business could be run,” he stated in a past interview.
While working as a Manager at the retail store, one day, Nditika gathered his courage and approached his employer with a request that he believed would be unlikely to be far-fetched and easily shunned.
“I asked him if he could allow me to start on my own on a small note. My boss then helped me start that first branch in Pipeline Estate,” Nditika narrated.
Thanks to his supportive boss, his brother and a business partner, they collectively pooled around Sh. 5 million, and Nditika got all systems running in his first Tumaini Supermarket branch. He also secured an additional Sh. 5 million SACCO loan.
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Nditika observed that running a supermarket is not as easy as one may tend to think. Being a capital-intensive business, he advised on the need to be very dedicated, pragmatic and have a solid financial base.
A piece of advice he offered to young people who were hesitant to venture into entrepreneurship out of fear that they wouldn’t receive a regular monthly salary was to stick to what they were knowledgeable about.
“Don’t fear anything…What makes many people become disappointed is going by hearing what other people are doing,” he asserted.