This feature on owning a business in Kenya is BY LILYS NJERU.
“My name is Davis Agoi, 29. My business is called The amazing closet. In 2015, a friend who sold a group of us second-hand clothes from Gikomba Market informed us that he was quitting the business.
Coincidentally, I had just resigned from my job to help my uncle manage his business, and it occurred to me that this would be a profitable business since this friend always had clients.
I had two problems though; I didn’t know much about Gikomba Market and I only had Sh 5,000 in savings, an amount I felt was too little to start any business.
After mulling over the issue for some time, I decided to jump right in, although still anxious of losing the only money I had. I went to Gikomba and bought 10 shirts, which I resold, making a huge profit.
Within three months, I had made enough money to buy more than 20 shirts. A friend offered me space in his office, and by mid 2015, I was making enough to rent my own space. With savings from the business, I decided to open a butchery in February last year in Ruaka. It cost me around Sh 100,000 to start off, money that went towards buying the weighing scale, freezer and items such as knives.
The business started picking up within the second month of operation, and although I wasn’t making any profit, what I made could pay for the premises and the butcher I had employed. In April 2016, I decided to withdraw Sh65, 000 from my mitumba business and set up another butchery. This was the beginning of my misfortunes. I found out soon enough that it was difficult to manage three businesses. To begin with, the employee at the first butchery quit without a notice, a factor that immediately brought the business to a standstill.
With time, the two butcheries started pulling my clothing business down because there were days I couldn’t manage to go to Gikomba. One day, it dawned on me that I risked losing the three businesses, and therefore had to make a hard decision. I closed down the butcheries. The two businesses had really affected my main one, and for two weeks after the closure of the butcheries, I stayed indoors, demoralised. I, however, decided to fight on, and I am glad that the business is doing well once again. In a good month, I make between Sh30,000 and Sh50,000.
I have since registered for Centonomy Entrepreneurship classes to learn more about how best to run the business.
Why the butchery business failed:
I thought that since I had identified a need, the business would succeed, however, I didn’t have a good understanding of the meat business, leave alone how to manage a butchery. Having staff who didn’t share my vision also contributed to the failure.
How I got back on my feet:
I made lots of sacrifices, including opening the business earlier and closing later than I did before. I also had to cut on comforts such as sleeping in on weekends, eating lunch, buying movies and books.
Lessons learnt:
- Before you start a second business, you need to be certain that the operational one is stable enough to sustain itself and run without your active presence.
- Be very diligent when recruiting employees.
- Do not let the money you make after every sale fool you that you are doing well, and constantly review your progress and keep accounts.